Object of Desire
by lalas
Summary: Lily and James make a shaky start to their relationship but it soon turns out to be a lot more passionate than either of them could have ever expected.
1. Bitten

I'm back and with a multi chap!

So read on and enjoy and let me know if you like my "adaptation"

--

She unfurled herself from the cocoon she had rolled herself into last night with a light groan.

Then she proceeded to groan loudly as soon as the events of the previous afternoon returned to her in a rush of images.

_Bugger!_

How could she have forgotten? She didn't know what had come over her, she really didn't. Not only had she kissed him, she had, for some unknown reason, bitten his lip while doing it.

Admittedly she wasn't all that practiced in relationships, but she was pretty sure that, at the least, it was impolite and down right offensive, at the worst, to treat the person you were kissing as if they were a tasty treat—_especially _if you weren't even technically dating said person.

Oh Merlin, he was never going to talk to her again, he was never going to kiss her again, he was going to tell the whole school what a weirdo she was.

And then she would have to go and become a nun, while he went off and married a beautiful woman who would fulfil all his desires and who would never try to eat him alive. All in all, leaving Lily to live the rest of her life pining away in the nunnery for the love she could have once had.

But it really was his fault, she rationalised after a moment. If only he hadn't kissed her, without her permission no less, so warmly and tenderly that first time a few days ago. If only she hadn't experience such an intense flash of attraction and passion from the feeling of his lips on hers, then she felt sure she would never have spent the last few days fantasising and thinking non-stop about his lips. And if she hadn't spent all that time thinking about his lips then she never would have kissed him with so much abandon the second time anyway.

She covered her face totally mortified. Why had she done that? It was such a bizarre thing to do.

Just after she had done it she remembered thinking that she couldn't bare to look at him and see in his face that he thought that there was something wrong with her.

She had felt sure he would storm off, firstly to have his lip fixed by the nurse and then to tell the whole school what a cannibalistic tart she was. So she had been shocked when he hadn't turned around and left her as she had been expecting, but instead had reached up and drawn her hands away from her face and kissed her again. That kiss had been neither chaste nor warm; instead, it had been a long deep white hot kiss, full of passion.

That kiss was replaced with another and another until each was indistinguishable from the next. She had been so wrapped up in the feel of his mouth that it had taken a few moments to realise that he had also wrapped his arms so tightly around her that their bodies had become almost impossible to tell apart .

At the time, she distinctly remembers thinking it was amazing how much writhing could be accomplished with so little room between them.

Her lungs had just started to tell her that she needed air when he had abruptly stopped kissing her. She had been so flustered by both his reaction and her own that it had taken her a moment to realise he had stopped. He turned away from her with his shoulder heaving and keeping the same deep rhythm as hers.

She had put a hand across her eyes and closed them and then after a moment, perhaps when oxygen had returned to her brain allowing for conscious thought again, she had realised he was right. As much as she hadn't wanted him to let go of her she knew he had to.

Nevertheless, she had decided she needed to talk to him about…his… her…_their_… well she discovered that that was the problem: _what was it?_ It had felt quite strongly like naked lust.

Tucking her dishevelled hair behind her ear self consciously Lily said in a wavering voice "_Umm wow, I had no idea it could be like that…"_

In response to her words he had dropped his chin to his chest momentarily then turned to look at her. He had had an expression on his face that she had never on him seen before, and upon seeing it she had felt a desperate need to hug him and tell him everything would be fine. Her feelings on the matter, however, had seemed quite unapparent to him.

"_I'm sorry that was unforgivable_," he said. "_I've just been waiting so long for you to kiss me. I didn't mean to get so carried away."_

It seemed her complicity in the kiss was quite unapparent to him as well.

"_Don't be silly, you're being too harsh on us. It was only a little –"_ when he had raise his eyebrows she amended "_- okay, a lot – of kissing"_

With her use of the collective he had looked directly at her. As he did so, she turned her head slightly and smiled fully; she was teasing him and blatantly trying to get him to kiss her again.

That action seemed to amuse him to no end and even made him smile again. Nevertheless, he stood his ground. Therefore when his hands reached out for her again they only cupped her face in his hands tracing the curve of her cheeks.

"_You'll be the death of me yet_," he whispered before lacing her fingers with his and leading her back into the castle, into the common room, and over to the stairs that lead to the girls dormitory. He had then laid a very "proper" kiss on her cheek before rushing off up to his own room, effectively leaving Lily a little bewildered, and after having a moment to allow exactly what had happened between them to sink in, a little embarrassed as well.

All of which led her right back to where she currently was—groaning, red faced, curled in a cocoon of blankets, and with the distinct feeling that her carefully built façade had been ruined.

It was pretty safe to say there was no way to cover up the way she felt for him now. Her secret had been discovered, and not just by anyone, but by Potter himself.

_Bugger._

--

This is shamelessly based on Mr Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll. It not plagiarism if you cite your source ;) – I just loved the book (cheesy as it is) and thought it would be a great L/J. So I cut, fiddled and adapted and tuhdah….

I know the chaps are kinda short, but they should come quite quickly. I have the second chap all ready and waiting to be beta'd, so if you want hear James tale…. REVIEW


	2. Until Lily

See how much swifter updates come when you review lol

Wow! 10 reviews in 2 days for chapter 1 – that is the best response I've ever gotten – whoop! – I can't explain to you how exciting that is. Thank you, thank you, thank you (that doesn't sound too desperate does it?? lol)

And because you all reviewed (well most of you ;))

And because both the last chap and this chap are so short

And because I have exams in a week and most definitely should not be working on this and so will not be posting for at least a week maybe more… (cough - review - cough)

I thought I should post this now

p.s. I was totally upfront about this in the 1st chap but I'll say it one more time, just in case; This is not all my work, in fact a lot of it isn't. I have adapted a brilliant yet cheesy book to fit my purposes. That book being Mr Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll. As I said before it not plagiarism if you cite your source ;)

Think of it as a musical artist doing a cover song, its almost exactly the same but with a few different notes ;)

Thank you for reading!

Mwah x

--

After having been rejected by Lily time and time again, James had eventually decided that the whole thing was pointless and any chase of her by him would ultimately be fruitless. Therefore it was in both his best interest and hers for him to give up on her and never think of her again.

In a vain pursuit of that decision he eventually chose another girl to give his attentions to, a girl who seemed much more capable of staying in his company for any length of time without trying to physically harm him. She had been beautiful and intelligent and very interested in him. But the whole time he was with her he was miserable and sour.

James had always known what he wanted and how to get it and he had never had reason to doubt himself or his place in the world, until he met Lily. His family was rich, powerful, and pureblood—the world had been laid at his feet solely for those reasons.

And the fact of the matter was, he wanted Lily Evans and the woman in front of him was _not_ Lily Evans and, eventually, he decided because she was _not_ he simply would _not_ have her. Therefore it was with a perverse pigheadedness, that could only come from his type of upbringing, he decided: if he could not have Lily he would not have anyone.

So he had finished his date early and left angry, but only at himself and his failure to forget Lily.

Fortunately for his health, and his sanity, Lily, after many months of careful persuasion, had finally relented and agreed to go out with him. If she hadn't have, he really thought he would've burst _or_ gone insane, which ever came first.

No one knew it, especially not Lily, but in those few months of waiting James had reached a state of complete submission as far as she was concerned.

And so, as a man known for his courage, there was one thing that he was terrified of; he was terrified of the moment when she learned of his unmitigated surrender, when she discovered her power over him.

But what was done was done and all he could do now was hope that when she did discover it, she would be kind.

Especially seeing as in all of James Potter's eighteen years, he had never fallen in love before, and had never said it out loud to anyone out side his family and the Marauders. It simply wasn't in his nature to get giddy over a girl and, quite frankly, the thought of stealing kisses and fighting for a girl's attention seemed ridiculous.

Or at least that was the way he _had_ felt, up until Lily.

Before Lily his relationships had been cursory and to the point. The point being: sex and not romance.

He had been known to comment on how beautiful a girl was, but his comments tended to be more of an observation than a compliment. He just wasn't any good at giving compliments and, truth be known, he thought they were a waste of his breath. After all, didn't it go without saying that he thought a girl was beautiful if he liked her enough to sleep with her.

Yet, now, he found himself wanting to shower Lily with compliments and attention. If he had known how to express it, he would have loved to tell her how beautiful and vivacious he thought she was, to tell her how he would love to kiss her toes and the ground they walked on. But it seemed no matter how sincere his feelings were he didn't have the talent to express them the way he wished he could.

To feel such strong emotions and be unable to tell her was driving him insane. Remus had suggested that he should go to the library to try to find a book or a poem to help him express himself.

He had been so desperate that he had seriously considered taking that advice, but he dismissed the idea rather quickly, purely on the fact that it was only going to work if he could keep his common sense about him long enough to read. This was looking more and more unlikely because it seemed that even if his mouth couldn't express what he wanted it to, his body was announcing his desire for her in the most obvious and embarrassing ways.

When in the middle of that increasingly passionate kiss, she had bitten his lip it had driven him to an extent of passion he had not thought himself capable of. Before Lily such a loss of self restraint was unheard of.

To have to turn away to keep her from noticing his hard on was shameful, and made him feel ridiculous. He had stood with his back to her desperately trying to redirect his thoughts; the weather, Quidditch, the Potions essay that he had yet to complete, _anything_ but the thought of Lily standing behind him and undeniably desirable and, almost certainly, insulted.

With other girls his body's reaction would not be a shock; depending on the type girl it would perhaps even be expected; recently James had started to notice an all too familiar look on every woman he chose to pursue. Just before they got really hot and heavy an expression of excited apprehension would appear on their face. That of course told him that the word had spread about how he performed in bed. He hated the thought of such an invasion of his privacy, and in time the knowledge that rumours were spreading about him ruined any pleasure he might have had during that kind of relationship.

But Lily was different. James knew she was a virgin and unused to feeling this way about him, so he also knew it was his duty not to take privileges. She needed time to adapt to liking him at all, let alone this way, and he would respect that. But the combination of her innocence and his lust was inciting his once sternly controlled passion to unprecedented heights.

Yet when he had finally turned around he had miraculously found that she had seemed neither angry nor insulted. As it happened she bore no greater irritation than a raised eyebrow and a peculiar look on her face.

But the encounter had left him so out of sorts that he had ended their walk almost immediately.

And when safely up in his room he realised that although her bite had heated his blood it was her passionate response that had really got him going.

_So Merlin help him the next time. _


	3. An Absence and a Gift

The next day Lily had the misfortune of having her dinner with some of the more annoying and vain Gryffindor girls and it was turning out to be far worse than it normally was.

James had been absent today; she hadn't even had a passing glimpse of him. And the fact that he had been nowhere near her at all today seemed to have been noticed by the entire school.

So much so, that she had become sick of the student body staring at her, all of them whispering about James's conspicuous absence. It had become so bad, and she had become so annoyed that she had seriously considered not bothering to come to dinner at all. But Samantha Marks had insisted she come and had almost bodily dragged Lily out of her room.

"It's no good starving yourself," she had said in what she obviously thought was a sympathetic voice.

If being the recipient of Samantha's pity wasn't Lily's least favourite thing at the moment it was among the bottom three—bested only by being locked up in a cupboard with a boggart and dating Malfoy, in that order.

In the middle of that thought she was tapped on the shoulder, and when she turned she found herself face to face with Remus Lupin. He handed her a note and smiled. It was an odd little smile though— she knew he was trying to be reassuring, but his cheek was twitching, and it seemed to Lily that his face wasn't as determined to look as happy as its owner was trying to force it to look. He obviously knew, to some extent, what was in the letter and his unease did nothing to settle her nerves.

She took the letter a little more eagerly than she would have liked, and after a brief moment of hesitation she tore it open.

_Lily,_

_I've had to go home for a little while. I'll be back soon. _

_James _

It was so short it was nearly rude and he had signed it merely James. She signed letters to Petunia with more affection than that. Her only comfort was that he had bothered to write to her at all.

She turned back to her long forgotten food, not daring to press Remus for more details in front of so many people, not wishing to draw even more attention to herself or her absentee boyfriend.

So she spent the rest of the meal pretending that everything was okay, but, in all actuality, feeling totally depressed.

In her silence she thought about why he would have left without even taking the time to talk to her. Had her actions during their most recent kiss really been so outrageous that he couldn't see himself going out with her anymore? Had she made him feel like he needed to avoid her, was this some twisted attempt at trying to break up with her?

A few minutes after she had received the note the Marauder's left to maraud and Emily took Lily to one side, whispering "I figure you don't really want to talk about it, but I just thought you might like to know that Sirius and Remus are just as confused about James leaving as everyone else is."

"Don't worry about me Emily," Lily sighed cutting her friend off. "It's a little sudden, but these things _do_ happen. There is probably a perfectly reasonable excuse as to why he had to leave so suddenly." Her answer sounded just as stupid and false out loud as it had in her head but she smiled anyway determined not to look too worried, especially seeing as Samantha was still sitting across the table watching her every move and eyeing the letter hungrily.

--

Dinner over the next week continued to be just as bad as the first and they all progressed in much the same way; with every eye in the Great Hall on her and Samantha looking more and more smug as time wore on.

But who could blame her, Samantha had desperately wanted to be with James and all of her carefully laid plans had be ruined when James decided to show an interest in Lily. And as such, Samantha wasn't even mildly successful hiding her delight that he was now missing from Lily's presence.

Much later that evening, Lily and some of the other Gryffindor girls were sitting up, doing a bit of last minute homework, in the empty common room when suddenly they heard a crash and uproarious laughter coming from outside the portrait hole.

It was after curfew so all eyes focused on the doorway hesitantly. They waited a few moments, but nothing happened and all of them slowly went back to work.

Just as they were all resettling there was another loud bang as the portrait swung backward and hit the wall. Samantha shrieked, Lily didn't, but she was still surprised.

Moments later three of the Marauders trooped in still chuckling lightly, she held her breath for a moment and allowed her eyes to follow them as they entered the room taking in each individuals face until they sat down around the girls smiling widely. But seeing that _He_ wasn't there with them she found it hard to return their smiles and instead released her breath sadly.

Her eyes flickered back to the portrait hole dejectedly only to find _Him_ standing there in the dim light desperately trying to get some kind of gooey substance off of his trousers. Suddenly he looked up and then there it was; the face she saw every night when she closed her eyes.

"James," Emily cried excitedly, as she briefly made eye contact with Lily.

Finally giving his trousers up as a lost cause, James returned Emily's greeting with a nod and entered the room fully.

After waving off Samantha's unnecessary and obviously annoying fussing, James's eyes focused on the face of each person in the room until his eyes finally settled on Lily.

It was obvious to her he had been looking for her, and it seemed it was obvious to everyone else as well because all eyes had followed the same course as his.

To say she was disconcerted was an understatement, his appearance was so sudden that she didn't have time to decide what to say, much less how to feel especially since everyone in the room seemed to be waiting for her to speak. So, instead, her cheeks did what they did best, they blushed.

Just as Lily was managing to regain some sense and the ability of speech, she found James had already spoken to everyone else in the room and had come and sat next to her.

All Lily wanted was to talk to him in private, but it appeared that he was in no rush to talk to her. He merely took her hand hesitantly as he sat down and then started a conversation with Sirius.

The next hour was spent in this bizarre way; with James sat next to her, holding her hand, but not paying her any other attention, not saying anything more than hello to her.

But just as everyone decided to go up to bed and Lily was starting to get really pissed off James caught her hand, making sure that they were the last ones in the room.

She had fought the feeling all night, but now that they were alone she started to tremble. Her defences started to crumble and her body was flooded with the feelings of worry, and anger and humiliation that his leaving so abruptly had caused. She could have perhaps coped if she had known why he went or if he'd told her how long he'd be gone. But he had not.

She didn't trust herself to speak, it was up to him to explain himself, she wouldn't help him.

But he offered no explanation. Instead, he offered a gift.

Lily eyed the box in his hand crossly.

Surely he knew her better than to think that he could treat her so badly and then buy her forgiveness with a gift, even if the gift was expensive. She looked at the box again, if he was serious about going out with her, she would have to talk to him about this, tell him that she didn't know about the other women he had been with, but that her affections could _not_ be bought.

Her hesitancy about taking the present from his hand made the ever impatient James open the box himself and show her the small pendant that, unless her eyes deceived her, was actually a diamond on a chain.

When he held it up, she realized that if he thought a gift would buy her happiness, he didn't think he could buy it cheaply.

"It's a tradition," he said quietly. "Every Potter does it. If you accept it, it means that you're mine and I'm yours."

She stood there, completely blown away by the gift, the gesture and what exactly that gesture meant.

"Please accept it," he finished quietly when she failed to say anything.

Then, without even waiting to hear her response, he fastened it round her neck.

It was stunning and perfect for her, not too flashy but incredibly beautiful, and it sat in just the right place, feeling cool against her skin.

"Thank you" she said breathlessly as she fingered the pendant lightly and as she did he gently placed his fingers on top of hers. His forefinger found the diamond as it nestled in the indentation at the bottom of her throat and rolled it lightly against her skin as he watch her closely still waiting for an answer.

Realising this she started slowly "Please don't think I'm being ungrateful. I love the gesture and I would love to be yours and only yours. But you can't seriously have made a trip off of school grounds, been gone for a whole _week_, just for this, beautiful though it is?" She said with a touch of accusation in her voice, her voice also showing how strained she had been feeling this last week with him gone and having to deal with all the curious stares.

"Yes." he said. Then: "No… I didn't-" he stopped again.

It soon became apparent that he wasn't going to explain his absence further and, instead of answering her questioning gaze, he diverted her attention by turning her around so she could see her reflection in the window behind her chair.

"So _very_ lovely," he said quietly, but as he spoke he looked at her and not the necklace around her neck.

She used their reflection to look straight back at him, as he encircled his arms around her before kissing her neck, just below the ear. As he did she watched as his expression change from shared intimacy to private anguish.

_What was that about?_ she thought briefly: _she hadn't turned him down_. Quite the opposite actually, she was quickly discovering she'd never wanted anything more than to be with him, even without the beautiful gift. So why was he upset?

Unfortunately she didn't have time to question him further because he had caught her hand again and led her over to the staircase before she could open her mouth. And, unluckily, once there Samantha came hurrying down the stairs on the pretence of wanting to retrieve a book.

"I can take her from here, James, she's a big girl she can manage the stairs," Samantha had said, giggling unconvincingly, while both James and Lily looked at her irritably.

Nevertheless, Lily went. What could she have possibly said to get rid of Samantha anyway, Lily was pretty sure that it couldn't have been done without being incredibly rude. And so, instead of getting a goodnight kiss much like the one she had been fantasising about for the last week, she was led away by grinning Samantha and her newly retrieve book.

All she could do was take a short glance over her shoulder at James to see him standing there looking totally shocked and bewildered, eyeing his now empty hand with a confused expression on his face.

She felt _exactly_ the same.

--

A/N

Longer was it not?

I told myself I would post once a week – not working so far – this is the 3rd chap this week! And I have exams people I should not be on here!

Pause to repeat myself; see what happens when you review – I'm so excited about the response so far!

That and someone told me its half term so I figured I'd be nice and give you all something to read

Kiki08 a regular reviewer was allowed a sneak preview at chap 1 and chap 3

And she got me thinking... if you would like a sneak preview – I will be awarding it to….

Well this time I'll award it to the person who convinces me they deserve it the most –

BUT

if you would like to leave your own suggestion as to how I chose for chap 5 and other subsequent chaps it would be much appreciated – chap 4 is an M rated one if that motivates you any!

Hey and to all those who have read Deception of the Worst Kind: Emily's baaacckk.


	4. Late Night Visits

M rated!

--

One of the benefits of being Head Girl was having her own room, it wasn't much, but it was all hers. And normally, on nights like tonight, when she couldn't sleep, she was doubly grateful. It meant she could pace, read, have the light on as long as she liked, or brood as much as she wanted and _nobody_ could get annoyed because no one was around.

She was taking full advantage of the privilege by sitting on her bed, in the middle of her priceless private room, and brooding to the best of her ability. But tonight, instead of being grateful, she was so troubled that she was seriously considering going back to her old dorm and waking Emily.

She felt so confused that she wasn't entirely sure she would be able to figure out her feelings on her own. Emily was her best friend and she was also much more experienced with boys, if anyone could help Lily work this mess out it was her.

Lily quickly dismissed the idea of seeking her out though. Emily loved her sleep and was not a fun person to be around if she was woken up before she'd had a full nine hours. Plus, Lily was pretty sure it wasn't prudent for the Head Girl to be sneaking in and out of dorms in the middle of the night. Reaching those conclusions she continued to sit and brood alone.

A knock on her door snapped her out of her depression and she was confused momentarily before she brightened. Perhaps Emily had noticed how upset Lily had been and had decided to come to her room so they could talk.

Then her thoughts darkened at the realization that if her luck this last week was anything to go by, it wasn't going to be Emily on the other side of that door, but Samantha, who would be there on the pretence of checking up on her, but really just to gloat.

In fact, she was so convinced of her bad luck that by the time she had gotten off the bed and made her way to the door, she was sure it would be Samantha and had tried to prepare herself accordingly.

So by the time she opened the door to James she didn't look particularly happy.

But after a few seconds, during which Lily's brain tried to process what exactly her eyes were seeing, her expression changed dramatically. Okay, she had been wrong before, Emily's presence wasn't the only one that could make her feel better.

Her abrupt change of feelings did nothing to change his though. He had obviously expected her to be surprised.

Without hesitating she stepped aside and allowed him to enter her room. If it had been any other day she probably wouldn't have assumed he wanted to come in, but considering the time and the way this last week had gone she figured he hadn't come to her to have the kind of conversation that either of them wanted held in the hallway.

As he stepped into the room, she took in what he was wearing with surprise; maroon boxers and a white t-shirt. It was obvious he hadn't planned on coming; he'd chosen to come see her without really thinking about what he was doing.

Noticing his outfit she suddenly became aware of what she was wearing. She closed the door, suddenly hyper sensitive to the fact that the old t-shirt she was wearing only managed to reach her mid thigh.

It was clear to her that he had noticed what she was wearing as well because once he was in the room he stood very still, staring at her for a very long time with his mouth just slightly agape.

Unexpectedly, though, he turned and walked away from her and moved to the middle of the room where he reached out and rested his hand on her bed post.

He sighed before saying "I'm sorry I left so suddenly, and without talking to you before I went." As he said that he looked at his hand and, upon realising exactly where it was, removed it rather self consciously.

Lily nodded in acceptance of his apology but didn't reply.

"I really did go home," he said, trying to explain himself, "It's just I didn't exactly _have_ to go, I could have stayed. My parents requested I go home, they often ask me to be present for one thing or another," he said as a side note, "but I normally say no…. and…and I could have gotten the necklace another way, without having to leave. I knew exactly what I wanted, in fact I had it commissioned, so someone else could have picked it up for me, but honestly… I thought that it was for the best if I got away for a couple of days. Things between us have been happening so fast and I really didn't want you to feel pressured. I needed to get some control back. I know you're not used to… I'm so sorry, but I had to leave…from you, _us_…so that I… I didn't lose my self-control completely."

With an odd combination of shame and anger, she said "Yes, well I suppose you had to get away from me. After all I'm the weirdo who can't seem to control herself around you, and who has mad urges to…"

Shock was the only thing James could think to feel after she said that. Then he realised that she though he'd left because of something she'd done, not because he was a horny teenager who couldn't seem to control himself around her.

"It's me I don't trust Lily," he carefully amended.

It took a little while for Lily to realise exactly what it was he was trying to say but when she did realise she was both relieved and amused. "Let me get this straight, you came to me in the _middle of the night_, in nothing but your _boxers_ to tell me you don't trust yourself alone with me?'

As she said that she started to walk towards him.

He frowned for a moment before chuckling quietly and saying, disbelievingly, "It seems like it, doesn't it?"

By then she had reached him and taken his hand. The moment she did so he said "_Merlin_, your hand is cold," and before she could say a word he had pulled the cover off of her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders.

She didn't think for one moment that all his fussing was really just because he thought she was cold, but she allowed it anyway, loving the attention she was receiving, especially after a week of no contact.

She climbed up on the end of her bed tucking her feet beneath her. When she was kneeling she found herself at just the right height to be able to nestle her head against his chest.

Smiling, he stroked her hair and whispered "I _did_ miss you though."

She gave a small smile, but was disappointed in that she knew nothing more would happen between them now, after hearing all his reasons she knew there was no way he would start anything here in her private room. He obviously thought he couldn't trust himself to just kiss her. After all, if he couldn't trust himself out in the open by the lake then he certainly wouldn't trust himself this close to her bed. So he would do nothing.

And so instead of waiting for him to start it, she did. She threw off her covers and kissed him desperately.

He may have been surprised by her actions, but he understood the gesture completely and didn't even try to stop it once it had been started. And so, with his complicity and a firm grasp on his hair, she kissed him repeatedly, each one deeper than the last.

When he had been pressed against her body that day in the grounds he'd had a chance to explore her body, but his search had been hindered by her school robes. So, even though his exploration had not been without reward, it had remained ultimately fruitless. Tonight, though, all she was wearing was a T- shirt and any pleasure he got from sliding his hand across the thin material of her top was only exceeded by hers.

The only real obstacle to Lily's pleasure was that he was wearing a shirt _at all_. And had James's hands not been so diligently employed already she was sure he probably would have removed it himself by now.

But since they were so wonderfully occupied Lily took up the task herself. She had barely begun to feel the soft skin of his back as her fingers raised his t-shirt when their bodies toppled back onto the bed.

She climbed on top of him as his hands ran the length of her thighs before they found the hem of her shirt and pulled. Having achieved his goal, he stopped all movement, dumb struck at the sight of her naked body, because naked she was, seeing as she had been wearing no knickers. The thought of her being bare the whole time he had been talking to her nearly drove him mad and he groaned loudly. He stayed still for a split second longer before his body, regaining its motor functions, took over from his brain and he rolled them over covering her mouth with his frantically.

His hands started exploring every part of her they could reach, but despite the pleasure this incited, and his preoccupation with the smoothness of her skin, he eventually became aware and then irritated that he was wearing so many clothes. And so he released her long enough to undress himself by whipping his t-shirt over his head, and start to push his boxers down.

Just as they started to descend they both seemed to pause, both seeming to realise where exactly they were heading, they were both astounded and shocked at the position they had found themselves in. He eyed her worriedly, expecting her to be angry at him and then tell him to stop.

But she did no such thing. Instead, she reached out hesitantly and ran her shaking fingers down his chest, up again and then over his shoulder and down his back. When she finally reached the elastic of his boxers she started to gently push them down. A brief flash of surprise flickered in James's eyes before his hands took over for hers and he flung his boxers to one side.

Since throughout some of their more fevered kissing she had felt his _bulge_ before she had some idea of exactly how big he was. Yet, despite that, she couldn't help, but stare when it was finally revealed to her. _It_ was hard to ignore really since _it_ seemed to be trained directly at her.

When she finally managed to force her eyes away from it she raised one eyebrow slightly, as if to question the viability of what nature seem to think was possible.

He in turn raised his own eyebrow and stared directly back at her, making her realise that perhaps her dumbfounded expression hadn't been quiet as subtle as she would have liked.

But she soon forgot about her musings on viability when he started to kiss her and his hands started to run all over her body again.

As his seeking hands became more urgent she knew that it was now or never. So, with her mind made up, she allowed him to move in between her legs. Truth be told, all his attentions had really heated her blood and made her more than a little anxious to have him insider her.

Once settled he didn't rush to have her. In fact, he stopped caressing her all together, pulling his fingers away from her clit. She moaned the second his hand left her.

She opened her eyes, both lust and annoyance at his stopping swirling in their depths.

"Sorry," he said, breathlessly. "It's just well… you're so small. I really don't want to hurt you."

Right now, given how turned on as she was, pain didn't really seem like that much of a problem and so she replied in an equally breathless voice "You'll have to."

He knew he had to as well, he just didn't like it. "Are you sure"

"Yes."

As soon as the word passed her lips he started to gently ease himself in to her. He was right it had hurt, but he went in slowly at first, trying to allow her to adjust, and given his gentleness and his continued caress, it wasn't long until the pain seemed to be gone.

But as they progressed she noticed his face becoming a little strained, "Are you alright?" she asked, running her palm over the muscles flexing in his back.

"Yes," he grunted. "I'm just trying really hard not to hurt you."

She realised then why he looked so tense, and she moved her hand from where it was, to run it briefly through his hair before saying. "It's okay, let go."

And suddenly his restraint collapsed, he gripped her hips and thrust into her hard, over and over again.

She desperately tried not to cry out and was saved from doing so when his mouth covered hers swallowing the noise.

He whispered words of apology and love in her ear. But he needn't have bothered because although his increased fervour had hurt, she found that it was starting to feel quite pleasurable again. In fact she was beginning to enjoy it so much that her instincts took over and she ran her teeth down his beautiful neck. Unfortunately that action seemed to bring on another round of hard thrusting and she suddenly found that the pain wasn't quite as gone as she had thought.

But she bit her lip and hung on to him as he reached his peak and came, hard and fast.

In the quiet that followed she could only hear his deep breathing and after a moment he rolled away from her. When he had settled next to her she looked over at him and saw him rest the back of his hand over his eyes.

_So that was sex_, she thought to herself grumpily.

She felt abandoned and she considered turning her back on him to sulk, but before she had a chance to move so much as a toe he had wrapped his arms around her and drawn her tightly into his chest.

He buried his face in her neck and stroked the small of her back, "I'm so sorry Lils."

She loved when he called her Lils, he seemed to only do it when they were alone, if his apology hadn't been enough, calling her Lils would have made her give him anything right now. Sweat was beading on his forehead and instinctively she wiped it away. "Sorry for what?" she asked quietly. "We both knew what to expect. There was no other way, unless I wanted to remain a virgin the rest of my life," she joked.

He smiled, hesitantly, and stoked her face. "Yeah, Lils, I know, I just…"

She waved him off before saying "Hey you have hair on your chest."

He chuckled, but dismissed her comment immediately as he started to kiss her again. As he pulled away he said "Lily, do you think we could… do you think I could -- ?"

"You can do it again?" she questioned smiling, but the hardness pressing against her thigh proved that he could.

"Most definitely. I feel like I've been waiting forever to have you, and I don't think my brain really believes this is happening unless I'm inside you"

"Well alright then, if we must" she sighed, but her huge smile gave her away.

"You'll be the death of me yet." he said with a grin of his own.

She swatted him lightly "Oh you love it."

His response was to kiss her deeply.

--

A/N

Okay, I know this wasn't quite as swift as my other updates but I am in the middle of exams and it has only been a week.

My last exam is next week so I will hopefully have the next chapter out to you by next weekend, but I cant promise

I awarded the sneak preview to cymru01 because she has been a constant reviewer since I first started writing so yeah… although it wasn't really much of a preview because she only received it a little bit earlier than I posted, again I'm going to have to blame the time constraints of exams. I'm really sorry cymru!

To all those who wished me luck thank you. To all those who have exams as well you have my commiserations and I wish you good luck.


	5. Good Morning

Lily woke to find herself warm and comfortable and with something heavy resting on her very naked waist.

_Who knew he could do it that often_ she thought. She had heard from other girls that most men had trouble having sex more than once in quick succession. After last night however, Lily now knew they were very mistaken.

During this contemplation Lily rolled over to find James still fast asleep. She would have cuddled into him but she didn't want to wake him. After all she thought a little smugly, he must be exhausted.

Looking at him as he slept Lily slowly realised that she had been so consumed last night that she hadn't really taken the time to look at him before everything had happened. The glimpses she had caught during the night and early morning repetitions had been astounding, but it had been dark and she hadn't had time to really notice everything.

Now that her hormones had calmed down and he was asleep, she took the time to admire his broad shoulders and the muscular leanness of his body. Her curious gaze however was soon drawn to his _private area_ and she was happy to have the chance to inspect it secretly. So she lifted the covers lightly and looked, and as she did she wondered how her own body had managed to accommodate such a large _member._

A moment later he stirred and then opened his eyes, "Good Morning." his voice rumbled groggily and either because he hadn't noticed or because he didn't care, he made no indication that he'd witnessed her investigation.

"Morning" she returned quietly blushing slightly at being caught, and quickly dropping the quilt.

Happy that he was not going to point out her indiscretion, she turned around and nestled her back closely into his chest, and as she did so he kissed her gently between the shoulder blades.

A slightly strangled sigh came from the back of her throat as he brushed her hair away from her neck and nuzzled her there. His chin scratched against her skin and she laughed as she reached back and put her hand to his face rubbing the stubble affectionately

_Damn but he looked good dishevelled._ _Only he could still be that good looking this early in the morning_ she thought vaguely.

Now he was fully awake, he was watching her with an intensity she had never seen in him before. And suddenly she realised just how _very_ naked she was. Funny how she hadn't been embarrassed last night in the darkness, whilst the bright light of the morning and his probing gaze, now made her totally self conscious. She tried to discreetly pull the covers a little higher while frantically wondering where the hell her t-shirt had gone last night.

But she stopped immediately when he said "Don't cover up Lils, please let me see you."

His tone and the look on his face made her stomach clench pleasantly but before she had a chance to react any further to his words he had drawn back the covers, the abruptness of which made her feel a little less guilty about her covert inspection of him earlier.

Suddenly finding herself the subject of his open and lustful gaze she blushed. In fact she was pretty sure she was blushing everywhere. And that which couldn't blush shivered. His attention being directed as it was he noticed the shiver immediately, but mistook it as her being cold and in a heartbeat had pulled her to his side and covered them both up in the covers again.

He lay down next to her so that they were facing each other with his hand coming to rest against her waist.

His fingers rubbed a gentle circle on her hip as he said. "I'm sorry Lily I really had no idea that this would happen when I came here last night." She raised her eyebrows and he quickly continued "I don't regret it, not even a little, but I need you to know that it wasn't what I was expecting. In fact I wasn't really expecting anything like this for a _really_ long time." He sighed then, before saying "And I really wish I could stay here with you all day, if I had my way it would be all week, but we both have to get up. It's the first Hogsmead weekend and we have to go into town and keep an eye on things…."

She nodded neither of their timetables allowed them the time to lounge about all day anymore, no matter what the reason. That didn't mean they had to like it though.

Noticing that she was as reluctant to get up as he was, he pulled her into an even tighter embrace before kissing her, and as he did so, she found her mind straying from all thoughts of her responsibilities. His lips started to descend downwards and she lay back revelling in the way he was making her feel.

Just as his lips brushed over a nipple she sighed quietly "Do we have to?"

Having been completely engrossed in what he was doing to her he had completely forgotten what they had been talking about only moments before. He rolled away from her removing himself totally and unsuccessfully hiding his hurt and disappointment.

"No we don't." he said "I'm sorry. I'm getting carried away – I'm so sorry I know you must be sore—"

She blushed at his reference to how she must be feeling but also had to fight down a giggle at how completely mistaken he was. Finally controlling her urge to laugh she said "I _meant_: Do we have to leave? Because I really think I could stay here like this with you forever."

And suddenly the warm comforting weight of his body was on top of her again, and before either of them really had time to think about it he was inside her again. And even thought she was eager and willing, she found that her nether regions were not quite so keen.

She managed to keep quiet until in the throws of his final release he trust into her fiercely quite unaware that she had reached her tolerance. And so when he finally came with a moan it was drowned out with her cry.

Immediately he drew her to him saying, "Fuck I'm so sorry. This won't do."

_Shit_, she had always figured that once she had lost her virginity that the pain would go, but she had been wrong and now he was saying that it wouldn't do. Clearly his was a disgusted with her inadequacy as she was.

Bitterly she said "Bugger I can't believe it! I'm…I— I'm defective."

Still breathing heavily on top of her he raised himself up on both elbows and asked bemusedly "I'm sorry, you're what?"

"Its not working, I can't keep up. I'm defective."

Still raised up on his elbows and breathing heavily, he blinked at her remark and found himself only able to repeat her words "You're defective?"

"Yes."

He frowned further and impatient that he wasn't following her train of thought she explained "I thought the pain would go away after the first time, but it hasn't, and because my body can't take it… you can't….I can't…." She closed her eyes unable to finish.

He raised an eyebrow before saying "That is absurd"

"No its not!" she said pushing at his shoulder "You said yourself: This wont do, you told me that I was small!"

"I said you were small meaning…." he paused seemingly searching for the right word then a slight blush came to his face as he leant down to her ear and said "Tight."

He continued quickly "It was a compliment not a complaint, and when I said it wouldn't do. I meant I wouldn't do for me to keep hurting you."

When she only frowned he said with a slight waggle to his eyebrows "Don't worry Lily the problem will be solved…. with lots of practice."

After finishing his sentence he leant down and kissed the inside of her thigh. If he had thought that she wasn't ready to try again, he was proved very wrong with that action, because it incited her to grab his hair and pull him up to her face and into a deep penetrating kiss.

Just as they were starting back up again Lily heard a knock on her door. She stiffened and lay still. It was a testimony to his determination to have her full participation in everything they did that made him stop as well.

"Lily? Lily? I know you're in there!" they heard Emily's voice say "Stop sulking and open this door. You should have been up hours ago, it's almost eleven! You never sleep in this late, let alone when you know you have to supervise the trips to the village. For Merlin's sake he wasn't gone that long! Come out of that room!"

"Lily!" Emily repeated insistently.

They looked at each other chests heaving "If I don't answer it, she'll probably break it down." Lily whispered

He dropped his head to her shoulder in frustrated acknowledgement, before he kissed her shoulder and said "I won't hide under the bed Lils."

She snorted "I wouldn't date a man who would." she answered matter of factly. He kissed her for that almost making them forget about Emily on the other side of the door.

Then he rolled away, sat up and said, "Give me a minute, yeah?"

She nodded her head and wondered how long it would take him to become presentable again. Even with Emily now banging loudly on the door again, she allowed him all the time he needed, as she also found and then pulled on, her long ago discarded t-shirt.

"I'm coming Emily! Merlin do you even know the meaning of the word patience." Lily shouted sharply.

She rose slowly followed by James who was still fumbling trying to get dressed himself.

When they reached the door neither of them were completely collected but they were in tact. James gave her a lingering kiss and Lily relaxed into it briefly before opening the door boldly.

"About bloody time!" Emily gave Lily and exasperatedly look before her gaze swept over her friends shoulder and stopped. Her eyes widened at the sight of James.

"Morning." he said cheerfully running a hand through his truly dishevelled hair before swiftly walking out the door and down the hall.

Emily watched him as he left then titled her head just a little to catch every last glimpse as he rounded the corner towards the Head Boys room.

Then still standing in the door way she eyed Lily's mussed hair and said with a hint of laughter in her voice "The way you were looking last night I thought you and James might have had a row after the rest of us went to bed, but it looks like any arguments that you may or may not have had have been forgotten."

"Hummm" Lily said noncommittally, but Emily couldn't help but notice a slight smirk briefly turn up the corners of Lily's mouth.

--

A/N

This hasn't been beta'd so please excuse any mistakes – as soon as I get the revised version I will replace this one.

And sorry for the 2 week wait but exams are over and I've been to the ball so I should have some more time on my hands for a while

Let me know what you think

Thanks for reading

p.s. the sneak preview went to IWantToMarryJames


	6. Good Afternoon

"Finally," Emily sighed, unceremoniously falling into the carriage seat next to Lily.

"'Finally'? Are you really that eager to get in to town—is there something you needed to get?"

"Oh, don't act all innocent with me, you little hussy," Emily giggled. "I mean: _finally_, we're alone. I've given you the courtesy of not brining this up in public and it's been killing me, as you very well know, but we're alone now, and I know what I saw this morning and what it implies. So, as your best friend, I am demanding you spill."

When all she received was silence Emily continued. "Do it now or I'll bring it up every chance I get, _and_ with absolutely no regard of who else may be with us. Quite frankly, you should thank your lucky stars I waited this long."

Silence.

"I could bring it up in front of Samantha," she said, evilly.

"Okay, _okay_, no need to make a serious threat like that!" Lily said, quickly looking out the carriage window, suddenly completely paranoid that Samantha was outside just _waiting_ to eavesdrop.

"So, come on, tell me what happened, how it happened and how good it was—in detail," Emily grinned.

Lily opened her mouth to respond when two more girls entered the carriage, and upon seeing that it was no one in particular Lily and Emily continued to talk quietly despite the interruption.

"Well, last night I was really pissed off; he didn't even try to explain!" Lily almost shouted before saying thoughtfully "Not that he had much of a chance with Samantha barging in at the worst possible moment!"

"I knew she was up to something!" cried Emily with a frown "I'm so sorry if I'd known I would have tried to stop her, but she told us she was going to the toilet."

Lily waved her off "Oh, it doesn't matter anymore. Anyway I was angry and upset and I was seriously thinking of coming to find you to have a good old bitch, when there's this knock on my door and—"

"Yes" said Emily waving her hand in an encouraging gesture.

"Well I was expecting you but when I opened it…there's James in just his boxers!"

"No way!" Emily giggled "So that's why he was in his skivvies this morning?! I just thought he'd lost them in your room or something and didn't have anymore time to look!"

"No!" laughed Lily

"So then what?"

"Well then we talked and then we…"Lily trailed off casting a wary eye towards the two unknown girls opposite, "Then we…" she started again right before the door swung open a second time, making Lily and Emily abruptly halt their whispered conversation. All four girls in the carriage swung their heads around to look at the intrusion.

"Speak of the devil," Emily whispered with a chuckle after seeing who had opened the door.

Three boys stood there, looking in, they paused for a moment then, seeming to have found what they were looking for, they jumped inside.

James and Sirius smiled widely at the assembled girls whilst Remus rolled his eyes and nodded a welcome.

James sat down next to Lily, closer than would normally be deemed appropriate. And as he settled himself she suddenly, desperately, wished she could splash some cold water on her face because she immediately found herself flushing from the chest up. In fact, she was silently worried that the frantic throbbing in her chest might cause her permanent damage.

She had the fleeting thought that perhaps she was ill, but she knew there was nothing wrong with her. Nevertheless, as the carriage started to move she lay her head back against the seat and emitted a deep sigh.

Obviously hearing her, James placed a hand on her knee before asking, uneasily, "Are you alright?"

It occurred to her to tell him that if he kept his hand on her knee he was in imminent danger of finding out just how "alright" she was, but she squashed the idea before her traitorous body took action and instead said "I'm fine, thanks."

Her reassurance obviously wasn't enough to convince him given that his hand started to make a small, reassuring, caress.

This action was unsuccessfully ignored by Lily, especially when the seemingly innocent action of his hand, expanded to an outright stroking of the inside of her thigh.

She clamped her hand down on top of his, her eyes darting about to see if the others had noticed, positive that if she didn't stop him her eyes might actually roll back in her head.

He, however, ignored her fierce grasp and his fingertips continued to caress her. In time the rocking of the carriage and his rhythmic strokes influenced her to release his hand from her grip.

Lulled into a trance like state she almost gave a start when he spoke. "We're here."

She looked up to find everyone else had already gotten out, shocked that she hadn't noticed she stood up quickly almost hitting her head on the carriage roof. James watched her near miss and quirked a self-satisfied smile at her before exiting.

The moment he was outside she took the opportunity to roll her eyes at herself.

As she went to step down she found him waiting to help her, she smiled slightly at the old fashioned gesture and took his hand. But instead of relinquishing his hold once she was on the ground as she had expected, James adjusted his grip and grasped her by the wrist. He used hold on her to pull her around the back of the carriage and, once situated out of sight, he kissed her.

She had hoped that he would do something, she had felt the tension building between them in the carriage so strongly that it really was a wonder no one else had noticed it. So she welcomed the sudden contact, she had been fantasizing about kissing him from the moment she had seen him, wondering if his lips would feel and taste any different from last night.

Yet no amount of fantasizing could have prepared her for the reality. In reality, when he kissed her he drew her tightly against him and even through the heavy material of his cloak _and_ the wool of his jumper _and_ the cotton of his t-shirt she could feel his body, and the mere impression of it was enough to weaken her knees.

Just as his hand had crept inside her cloak Lily heard a rather obnoxious cough from behind James and, in response, she tried to push him off of her.

He pulled away momentarily letting his eyes flick to the intruder only to see Sirius's smirking face. In response he only rolled his eyes, threw an obscene hand gestured at him and, then, went back to kissing Lily.

"As hot as this is, I really think you should move before the next carriage turns up. Don't want to permanently scar any third years."

Lily, apparently seeming to agree with Sirius, pushed against James a second time and he reluctantly released her with a groan.

"Fine," he said grumpily before leaning down to Lily's ear and whispering "but we _will_ finish this later."

Having some distance between them brought Lily back to her senses. She adjusted her hair self-consciously and threw him a dirty look, but, still when he held his hand out to her she took it without reservation

--

As they all settled into a booth at the Three Broomsticks the group quickly started to talk amongst themselves.

Sirius had quickly stolen Lily's attention, drawing her into conversation. They had always enjoyed a light, easy friendship and it seemed that now that she was with James he was more than eager for it to continue.

In fact, he had soon completely monopolised her.

At first, James seemed to take it quite cheerfully but, as they continued to talk, it wasn't long before he was glowering at them, which only intensified further when Sirius made a comment that made Lily blush spectacularly.

Soon he seemed so angry and disapproving that Lily started to feel uneasy and the further the afternoon progressed the more and more awkward the atmosphere became.

Once everyone, had had their fill of Butterbeer, however, the group disbanded to run their errands and walk around the town.

"You coming Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"I'll catch up with you later," James said, never letting his gaze move from Lily.

"Okay, see you Lily," Sirius said, sending her a wink and receiving a light smack on the back of the head from James.

Lily took James's hand once they had left the pub, trying to seek reassurance she hadn't made him angry.

His grip on her was firm, steering her away from the village and towards a hill that she knew looked out over the village and had a secluded bench near the top.

Once they had sat down he put his arms around her and rested his cheek on top of her head as the both look out at the view.

"You know," he whispered into her hair. "I'm so happy that you finally decided to be with me, Lily."

Still uneasy about his mood bad mood earlier in the pub, she responded "If that's true then why were you giving me the evil eye all afternoon? You were staring at me as if I'd done something wrong. In fact, you've always looked at me like that; it's actually why I was always convinced you hated me despite what you said about wanting to date me?"

"I'm sorry if I've ever made you feel that way. If I was always staring at you it certainly wasn't because I didn't like you… quite the opposite actually," he mumbled as he kissed her neck, several times, and pulled at the hair band holding her hair up. Once his goal was accomplished he ran his hand through the silky strands of red before gently pulling her lips to his.

"I had errands of my own to run you know," she whispered against his mouth.

"Anything you need, I'll go get it for you tomorrow."

She pulled away. "How?" she scoffed.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" he asked blandly, his eyes focused on her pink lips.

"No, no, I don't suppose I do," she laughed before taking over where he had left off.

A/N

Okay I have decided this story has no direction whatsoever other than to be full of fluff and smut. Considering the lacklustre response I got to the last chap – I'm thinking the readers agree… (don't worry the reviews I did get were great just not in nearly the usual quantity)

So I'm thinking of abandoning it – which is a little wrenching because so far I have finished all the stories I've posted (even if it did take a while)

Let me know what you think – maybe I'm being self-depreciating – so I will continue if enough people are interested – but be honest!

I haven't replied to the last batch of reviews but I will later today - just thought I'd post while I have the opportunity

Thanks for reading as always


	7. Dates

Okay, Okay! I apologise profusely! I will not abandon this story! How could I after the wonderful response I received asking me not to quit.

I guess I was just having a difficult day or something (I can't recall) – but I do know I was feeling lazy directionless, and totally unmotivated. That is no longer the case. Thank you so much for your reviews, thank you for the encouragement and thank you to all those who left ideas, I really appreciate how much you care.

My beta, the illustrious Cosmopolitan, told me that the story was good and that sometimes people just can't be bothered to review but that didn't mean that they didn't like the fic, and judging from the response to my announcement she was right – I should have known that too – after all I've been a little guilty of lurking from time to time myself .

So to make up for threatening something so serious and for scaring you all … I present you with a new chap only 1-2days after the last post

I really hope you enjoy it and don't worry there is more!

--

"Are you hungry?"

Out of habit, Lily checked her watch and was startled by how much time had gotten away from her. It was well past any normal lunch hour, and she hadn't eaten back at the pub with the others, as if to prove this point her stomach chose that moment to suddenly let out a grumble. It was quite frightening how time seemed to just slip by when she was with James.

The day was still rather warm and they were very secluded sitting where they were, so she was a little reluctant to leave, but her stomach chose that moment to remind her, for a second time, that she was indeed hungry.

"Yeah, I suppose I am," she sighed reluctantly, grumpily looking down at her stomach.

He gave a light chuckle before stretching his arms discreetly and when he rested them back in his lap he suddenly had a back pack in his hands.

Lily had already stood up, ready to leave, but when she saw him holding the bag she said "What's that? You didn't have it with you earlier."

He grinned. "I know I didn't, and it's lunch," he said, pulling the zip open to reveal a load of food.

She stared at him open mouthed for second before walking straight up to him and kissing him passionately on the mouth. "My hero," she joked.

"I try," he said, kissing her back before taking off his cloak and conjuring a blanket before pulling out all the food he'd brought.

"I can't believe you made us a picnic," she said still standing and staring down at him in amazement.

He looked up at her and rolled his eyes before reaching out, taking her hand, and tugging gently until she was sat next to him. "It's not that surprising, is it?" he asked, a little put out.

She laughed quietly at the look on his face before she threw her arms around him, knocking them both backwards.

"It _is_ surprising—just in the really good way," she whispered before kissing him again, making him moan quietly as she deepened the kiss.

"We're never going to eat, are we?" he asked with only a tiny bit of disappointment.

"Boys, don't they think of anything except the stomachs?!"

"Of course we do, and so do I, especially right now," he said, taking a sneaky glance down her top.

She swatted at his arm and then rolled off of him; she didn't go too far though because James immediately pulled her against his side. Just as she opened her mouth to tell him it would be difficult to eat like this, he popped a grape in her mouth effectively silencing her. She rolled her eyes, but took the hint and messily shoved a bit of cake into his mouth before resituating herself as close to him as possible while still being able to put a plate together. He watched her actions critically until satisfied that she wasn't moving any further away.

She smiled to herself before passing him the plate she had just made.

He looked at the plate and was surprised by how much the gesture meant to him. No one but house elves had ever done anything like this for him, as far as he could recall.

"Eat," she commanded when he still hadn't touched his food before setting about making her own.

He didn't need to be told twice.

--

Eventually, after they had both eaten their fill, James found a comfortable spot with his head in her lap and she occupied herself by drawing lazily tickling circles on his chest.

Suddenly, into this peaceful scene, came a Slytherin sixth year.

For a man whose attention was seriously compromised James was on his feet very quickly and, in an instant, he had put himself between Lily and the intruder.

The poor boy was more startled than Lily and James combined, and became increasingly twitchy when he realised he had the Head Boy's wand was pointed directly at his chest.

James calmed down significantly when he realised the boy was also with a girl and they were obviously up there for no other reason than to spend some time alone together. Nevertheless, he still glared at them relentlessly. You couldn't be too careful now days, especially whilst sitting unprotected, and out in the middle of nowhere, as they were.

When James finally lowered his wand the boy backed away quickly, taking his girlfriend with him, apologising profusely the whole way.

As James watched them walk away, Lily discreetly tucked away her wand back into her jeans. She didn't think for a second than James was unwilling or unable to protect them, but pulling her wand had been instinctual. Still, though, she didn't want James to know the intrusion had scared her enough to take that kind of action; it would ruin his mood and their day.

James sat back down slowly, still feeling the last vestiges of anger and worry pumping through his veins.

Lily, ignoring that, laid back and gazed up through the trees trying to calm her heaving chest. But James soon became well aware of her quick breath and was in no hurry for her to regain it.

--

The poor Slytherin boy and his girlfriend left quickly, but five minutes later they bumped into someone else and this encounter would not end as well as the last.

Whereas James had looked quite threatening, Rosier looked like the devil himself.

That comparison was not entirely inaccurate because within moments Rosier had knocked the boy to the ground and taken the bag of Zonko's products he had been holding in his hand.

Standing over the boy, as he gasped for air, he said "Run if you know what's good for you."

Not needing any more convincing the boy stood as best he could, quickly grabbing his girlfriend's hand before making a hasty retreat. As they left Rosier made sure to slap the girlfriend on the arse.

Rosier had an unhealthy love for causing pain and had he not already had a purpose he might have toyed with the boy more. As it was, he just laughed and inspected the bag of goods, but upon finding nothing to interest him he threw the bag to the ground with a curse. He grumbled for a few moments before he remembered why he was in the woods in the first place: the beautiful Lily Evans.

Rosier had never been in love. In fact his definition of love was to have sex with a girl and not have to pay or force her. Therefore he had no understanding as to why James Potter, the heir to one of the largest and most influential wizarding families would want anything else from that pretty Mudblood. Believing everyone had the same twisted logic, Rosier reasoned that Potter would soon tire and move on to more suitable girls and when he did Rosier was going to have his turn.

So he continued on his path, head low. It didn't take him long to find them, they were laughing and talking in low tones as they lay in the small area on the side of the hill in perfect view of anyone who wanted to look.

Normally, if given the choice Rosier would rather participate than to watch but because at that particular moment in time that was not an option, he satisfied himself with observing.

He knew that patience had its rewards and so he would wait, and await he did, silently watching. He strained to see what was concealed from him, from the distance he was at he only had a partial view and it did not satisfy him but he knew better than to try and get closer. So he simply sat in silence implying into his imagination what his eyes couldn't see and found enough pleasure in what could be heard. _For now_.

--

A/N

I'm really sorry but because I posted this so quickly I haven't replied to any of the reviews like I normally would have. I will get to them, but unfortunately it may take a few days. Why you ask? Well its because my modem is broken and I have no internet! I'm having to post the new chap from an outside source! I feel so lost!


	8. Prowess, Discomfort and an Invitation

If his mood at the pub had upset Lily that afternoon it was unfortunate, but not without merit. He had found no amusement whatsoever in Sirius's monopolising Lily's attention on their first trip to the village as an official couple. Undoubtedly though, Sirius had known what he was doing to James and that he was one of very few people who would be allowed to get away with such a thing.

So he had sat in mute disapproval, allowing Sirius his little joke because despite the mild feeling of annoyance, his mood was more a reflection of the fact he had been thinking hard about his and Lily first time together.

Quite unknown to Lily a niggling annoyance was quickly turning into a serious irritation for James. Other than having her in every sense of the word, he thought of little else.

Through the years he had managed to develop considerable self control and with it, he had managed to perfect foreplay to an art form, executing each of his sexual encounters with self-assuredness and talent. He was disturbed to find that, with the woman he wanted to please more than any other he had ever met, it seemed he couldn't control himself long enough to make sure she enjoyed it as much as he did.

He'd probably had more restraint his first time _ever_ then he'd had his first time with Lily. The thought that he hadn't made her feel as good as she made him was disgusting and he hated himself for it.

He had accepted the fact that their first time was never going to be brilliant and it was always going to be quick, by reason of her virginity and his lengthy abstention from women, but he had no excuse for the other times they had been together that night, and he was damn well going to make sure that the next time made up for it and so as he'd sat in silence he'd made a resolution.

Tonight he was going to make it up to her.

--

After dinner that night, he'd discreetly led her straight to her bedroom. He'd tried to be patient, but just couldn't wait until later. He'd been watching her at dinner with thoughts of what he was planning to do to her swirling in his head. He'd managed to wind himself up so much that he was sure that if he had to wait any longer he wouldn't be able to pull his plans off.

"James?" she asked in confusion after he'd closed her bedroom door. "We just spent the whole day together, what could possibly be so urgent?"

He didn't answer her, instead he just took two large steps towards her so that he was standing in front of her and within moments he had shed every layer of clothing between them, she had a moment to be shocked right before he pushed her back on the bed and showed her the extent of his self control. It provided success.

_Substantial success._

Her arousal had come with a loud and throaty moan, a sound that gave him immense joy and pleasure of his own.

But with one problem fixed a new one arose.

At one time, he would never have bothered to flatter a woman before, during or after sex. It was exposure enough to allow a woman to see him in all his glory, but he flatly refused to be quoted.

It was different with Lily though. He wanted to show her what she meant to him and he therefore had no problem telling her how he felt. The problem lay, in that unless he wanted to tell her about his previous experiences he realised he was going to have to be careful about what he said, at least when comparing her to another.

Her lips may have been the softest he'd ever kissed, her skin the softest he'd ever touched, but he couldn't say that without openly admitting to her that he'd been with other women.

The misunderstanding about how small she was could have very well lead her to ask him how he knew that she was small and how he knew so much about a women's body in the first place. It was going to take skill and caution to tell her what he wanted to without letting her know the things he didn't.

On top of that, he was also worried that if he didn't calm down his _need_ for her she would have to leave him just to have any peace at all. Since they had started having sex he hadn't gone more than eight hours without having her. Even now, walking back to his room, his legs felt shaky.

Surely with time and familiarity his eagerness would calm down but as it was now, every time they had sex he found he wanted her more. He only had to think of her face or to think of her soft breath against his ear or, Merlin help him, to think of her tight confines, to feel a desperate need to take her again. Thinking of her _allowing_ him to have her… it was all he could do not to turn around and go back to her room right now.

--

It had been about a month since their first time and James was still waiting for his passion to calm. It seemed he was addicted to her. In fact, after a few cursory attempts he had given up even pretending to go to sleep in his own bedroom. What was the point, he thought, he always ended up with her anyway.

So, as was normal, James went to Lily's room, not his own. After knocking quietly he entered her room, to see she was already curled up in her bed. He smiled as he took off his trousers and shirt, leaving him in only his boxers, before sliding tiredly into bed next to her.

As soon as he was settled he pulled her into his arms and began kissing her.

It was obvious to Lily where that was going, if she hadn't caught on by now she would have had to have been completely thick. And, normally, she was just as eager a he was, but that night she stopped him.

"I'm really sorry, James," she said quietly looking away from what she was sure was his highly disappointed face.

"What's the matter?" he asked his voice full of concern.

"I—I can't tonight."

Suddenly she found the back of his hand on her forehead. "Are you sick?"

"I'm fine, it's just I'm—I got my period," she admitted quietly.

"Okay," James replied, unable to think of any other response.

Mildly embarrassed, she couldn't seem to look directly at him.

He sighed when she avoided his eyes. "Maybe I should go back to my own room?"

When she said nothing he kissed her on the forehead and after picking up his clothes quietly left the room.

_Well, there you go._ If he couldn't have sex with her, he didn't want to be with her at all.

Problem was she didn't want to sleep without him. The bed already felt cold and he'd only been gone a minute.

Tossing and turning and trying not to cry or throw something, she almost missed the very light knock at the door. She did hear it though and she was on her feet in an instant and had opened the door to find James staring at the door frame.

"Lils," he said hesitantly his eyes flickering to her briefly. "Would you mind—do you think I could stay with you for a little while?"

She stood there looking at him for a split second before she released the door and threw her arms around his waist, leaving him with no doubt that she didn't mind his staying with her at all.

He rested his hand against the cheek not pressed into his chest and said "I don't think I can get to sleep without you anymore."

She managed to prevent herself from squealing like a first year and instead pulled him back over to the bed. Once again under the covers she settled herself with her head on his bare chest and her hand on his stomach.

"I thought you didn't want to sleep here because we couldn't have sex."

"No, of course not, you just seemed so uncomfortable with me being here that I thought you would rather be alone."

"No, never, I was just a little embarrassed; I've never had to talk about it with a boyfriend before."

Smiling slightly at her calling him her boyfriend he said "Don't be ridiculous, all women have them."

"Yeah, I know, I was just being silly. It's just a shame that we can't do anything for at least a week."

"That long huh?"

"Yeah." she sighed remorsefully.

"Well there are always other things we could do…"

"Oh _really_?" she said, dragging out the last word and lifting her head up to look him directly in the eyes.

Instead of answering her he rolled them both over until she found herself straddling his waist.

She laughed and leaned down to kiss him, but she stopped when she noticed that his mood had changed significantly.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I've just been wanting to ask you something for a little while and now seems as good a time as any." he said, squeezing her hip lightly.

"Okay," she said, still sitting on his stomach. "Shoot."

"Well… would – Will you come to my house over Christmas? My parents throw a ball every year and I would really like it if you would agree to be my date."

"Of course I will," she said quietly, running a hand through his hair. "Did you really think I would say no?"

The smile he gave her lit up his whole face. "Well, I didn't want to assume, but—but that's great! That's really—thank you."

She laughed. "You're welcome. To be honest I'm quite curious to see where you grew up."

"Well, it won't be long till you find out!"

"Humm…Now where were we?"

--

Sorry about the delay with review responses – some of you I'm sure even got two – but I have to say; Wow that was a lot of reviews – it took me ages – but I'm not complaining – they keep me inspired – thank you all

Thank you to the illustrious, _magnificent_, _splendid_ beta cosmopolitan who had been very supportive and who beta'd a load of chaps in one day

X

Ps there is a direct correlation between the number of reviews I receive and the rate at which I update ;)


	9. Arriving in Style

_Deep breaths, deep breaths._

"Will you please calm down, Lily," James interrupted her mantra, squeezing her hand gently. "You're starting to make _me_ nervous, and it's my house!"

"Sorry, sorry."

"We could do something to take you mind off of it," he whispered into her ear.

"Right, you're right…okay," she agreed, completely missing what exactly it was he was implying they do. "So why is it we're not travelling by magical means?" she asked, leaning across the back seat of the black car they had been picked up in so that she could lay her head on his shoulder.

"Well we've always had exceptionally high security on the house," he said with a sigh as he adjusted his arm so that he could wrap it around her shoulders and pull her more snugly against him. "But it was stepped up a few years ago when the likelihood of war increased. It's just too dangerous to allow that kind of access. Not only is my family well known, but there is also a lot of confidential information in the house."

"Using the Muggle ways means that the comings and goings are more easily regulated and controlled. The changes don't really cause too much hassle either because these cars are just like the ones the ministry uses; we're heavily protected and they seem to just slice through traffic. In the end it only takes a little longer than the more conventional ways of travel."

"Wow. That's really—it just all seems so…"

"Necessary," he said in a voice that brooked no argument. "Anyway, what does it matter? Especially when it means we get thirty minutes of uninterrupted alone time," he said suggestively.

Lily finally catching on to what exactly it was he wanted to do, cast a quick eye towards where she should have been able to see the driver, noting that that the privacy screen was still up, she smile coyly at him before lifting her skirt and straddling him.

--

Caught up as they were James and Lily were unaware of having arrived on the Potter grounds until the car pulled to a stop.

Therefore there was an uncomfortable pause before the door opened. The two house elves waiting to unpack the luggage and show their new guest to her room were very confused when all they heard from inside the car was a scuffling sound and what, perhaps, may have been an embarrassed giggle.

When they finally emerged from the car into the cold, the second of the two house elves scurried forward to greet Lily with the intention of showing her into the house. But, with little more than a glance from James, the elf stepped back, allowing him to take Lily's hand in order to show her in himself.

Just before taking James offered hand, Lily threw a prayer of thanks to anyone who would listen that James parents had not been there to greet them. That would have been mortifying and definitely not the first impression she was hoping to make.

But she had prayed too soon because when she looked up to the impressive oak front door at the top of the steps leading into the _manor?!_ she saw a regal woman with James's beautiful eyes holding the hand of a man who could be James himself in thirty years, both looking down at them with what Lily sincerely hoped was amusement.

On the steps, in front of James's parents, sat a smirking Sirius, who had forsaken the car to ride his recently acquired motorbike, next to a beautiful young girl of about nineteen who had James and his father's dark hair and blue eyes so bright they seemed to shine. She looked vaguely familiar and Lily recalled her going Hogwarts a few years ago.

And finally hanging about in the background was a frail looking old woman leaning on a walking stick, but if her beady eyes were anything to go by it was all an act. Quite frankly she looked mean and absolutely nothing like anyone else present.

_Bugger_. And it had been looking so promising too.

Once the introductions had been completed, with helpful input from Sirius every step of the way, another house elf appeared and took Lily's cloak, gloves and green beanie hat before she'd even had time to blink.

Saying they were tired both James and Lily headed for their bedrooms. As they went up the grand staircase Lily couldn't help but glance back over her shoulder to look in admiration, and a little shock, at the tasteful décor. It wasn't full of ostentatious, useless furniture like she was sure most people with wealth like the Potter's would have had. It was full of furniture and paintings that's must have been accumulated by the family, not just for generations but for centuries. Every piece, whilst unmistakably beautiful and almost certainly worth a fortune, seemed to have a place and purpose, she was in love with the house already.

Just as they reached the top of the staircase Lily heard the sound of scrambling feet and claws followed by loud yelping barks, which turned out to be coming from two large hairy beasts, which on close inspection turned out to be dogs. So desperate were the dogs to get to James that it seemed they didn't care if they had to go around, over, or possibly through, Lily to get to him.

James simultaneously reached out to rescue Lily from falling down the stairs and commanded the dogs to "Behave!"

Dizzy and shocked as she was, it took Lily a moment to realise that he was commanding the dogs and not her.

Once James had checked for himself that she was alright, not believing her when she had told him she was fine, Lily knelt down to pet the dogs, their tongues instantly sneaking out to lick her hand.

"Don't be cross with them, James, they're just happy to see you."

He laughed at her compassion crouching down himself to give each dog a pat before, once again, grabbing Lily's hand, pulling her down an adjacent hallway and into what was obviously meant to be her room for the duration of her stay.

As soon as the door was closed James playfully picked her up and tossed her onto the bed.

"Right now I don't really care about the dogs," he whispered once he was lying down next to her.

"James!" she said sitting up quickly "Your parents! This is their house -- it's -- it's not appropriate!"

James waved her off, "How would they even know? I'm certainly not going to tell them. Are you?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" she said turning shocked and disbelieving eyes on him "Of course I'm not. But-- but it's just not -- not right! We were almost caught just now! Do you know how humiliating that would have been? I would never have been able to face them again!"

He raised an eyebrow at her reaction and said with a slight smile "Don't look at me like that Lils, we both know you enjoy it as much as I do..." he trailed of staring at her chest where she had begun to blush. "See!" he pointed triumphantly. "I don't think _either _of us could go this whole holiday with out any _private _time, and to be quite honest why would we want to? Give in now Lily, don't drag this out." he said laying a wet kiss on her neck "We both know you're going to cave, and quickly, if your heavy breathing is any thing to go by." he whispered running his had lightly over her chest.

she groaned and her eyes slid shut "Dont worry love, this is a big house, no one will bother us and no-one but me will be able to hear you moan." he whispered into her ear, his tongue darting out to touch her skin.

Her eyes snapped open with those words and James had to take a deep breath and rearrange himself when he saw the fire in her eyes. Inwardly, though, he smiled widely, there would be no more arguments from her today, with that semi coherent thought he leaned forwards and captured her mouth in a kiss. But it seemed that as anxious as James seemed to be for a repeat of what had happened in the car, it wasn't to be. Within moments not only were they interrupted by house elves bringing in Lily's belongings, but also by a board Sirius bursting into the room.

--

Soon it was dinnertime and Lily had her first opportunity to talk to James's family.

Lily found Sirius to be as he always was; carefree, mischievous and sometimes a little thoughtless, taking every opportunity to tease James and Lily openly about their relationship. James only added fuel to Sirius's fire and before long they were in the full throws of one of their usual bantering matches

Mrs. Potter watched the boys' loud production with a large smile, evidently having missed the noise of having her children around her and seeming to find almost every one of Sirius's comments as amusing as Sirius thought they were. She was kind and welcoming and, luckily, appeared to have taken an instant liking to Lily.

Mr. Potter took the chaos of dinner in his stride, clearly quite used to the antics of his family. He seemed quite content to sit quietly and watch the going ons of his family and guests. The overall impression Lily had so far was that he was a very amiable man, but that he, like his daughter, preferred to observe, rather than openly and loudly participate. After all James, Sirius, and Mrs. Potter seem loud enough for everyone.

Alexandra Potter was quiet and shy, and Lily spent a lot of dinner trying to draw the girl into conversation. She was the exact opposite of James, but Lily found she liked her very much anyway. She was so quiet and unassuming that Lily thought it would be very hard for _anyone_ to dislike her.

And finally, Aunt Mary as they all called her. Lily's first impressions of the old hag had been spot on. She had made nothing but snide comments all night and if Lily were going to be honest the old biddy was really starting to get on her nerves. Lily could already sense that she didn't approve of her, and all she could do was hope that the horrible old woman didn't have too much sway within the family.

--

A/N

Wohooo! A new update – 3rd in one week! – How good am I??

Review people it only takes a second!

Thank you for reading

Mwah x


	10. Riding

Lily was finding it very hard to find her way around the large Potter manner and had been tempted, at least twice, to ask James if there was a map she could use. The third time she got lost somewhere on the third floor she finally conceded defeat and actually asked James exactly that.

He had laughed at her and told her it would get easier the longer she was there and that she was more than welcome to stay permanently attached to his side until then.

So that's exactly what she decided to do.

James and Lily were bundled up in their winter coats and were leisurely wandering across a field towards the place where James said he liked to play Quidditch, when Sirius raced past them on a Comet 360.

When he saw them he stopped so fast that Lily actually thought he was going to fall off.

Soon though, Sirius had joined them safely on the ground and he and James had entered into a long and convoluted discussion on the difference between the Comet 360 and the 2000 Spark.

Lily, not really caring about the intricacies of broomsticks, took Sirius's broom off of him and inspected the fine craftsmanship for herself. Even with her limited knowledge and experience she could tell it was a very good broom.

Seeing her fascination, James asked "Would you like to learn to ride, Lily?"

Eager for such an adventure, she blurted out "On a broomstick?"

She'd been so caught up in the excited feeling of thinking she was about to learn how to fly properly and not just on an old school broom, that it took a moment for her to realise the double entendre. When she did though, she blushed spectacularly.

With careful deliberateness and suppressing a smirk, he said "Yes, Lily, on a broom"

She narrowed her eyes at him since he hadn't answered her question straight away. Instead, he had waited, leaving her comment hanging in the air just to torture her. In his defence, though, he had stopped himself from laughing which she knew, from looking at him, was taking all his self-restraint. Still he was laughing at her, not with her, and she was finding it hard to hide her irritation.

She stole a look at Sirius to gauge his reaction, and was surprised to find he was not laughing, but instead was paying a great deal of attention to his trainers and, possibly, whistling.

Before Lily could say anything else, James had wrapped an arm around Lily's waist and the three of them continued on towards their destination. They had only taken a few steps when Lily discreetly, yet violently, pinched James's arm. Impressively, he didn't flinch at her attack, but he did take the precaution of releasing her waist and holding her hand instead. They both knew that his adjustment wasn't a display of affection, but more so to prevent her from attacking him again, and Lily took distinct pleasure in that fact.

In an unprecedented show of thoughtfulness, Sirius changed the subject by asking Lily how on earth she had gotten to be so old and not have learnt how to fly a broom.

Lily knew that when Sirius talked about flying he didn't mean riding a broom from place to place he meant flying as in for the fun of it, flying to play quidditch, flying with precision and grace.

Her explanation was simple; as a muggleborn she hadn't even known brooms could fly until she was eleven and once at school the only opportunity she'd had to really try a broom was in the one class that was provided in first year. None of her friends could fly any better than her, or had any desire to learn to do so; therefore she'd never really been given a real opportunity to learn.

Satisfied with her answer, Sirius said "Well James is one of the best fliers I've ever seen. You'll be flying like a pro in no time, but he'll be a tyrant when teaching you. Be prepared for hours and hours of his demanding instructions."

"Yeah, Sirius," she agreed solemnly. "I'm sure you're quite right about that."

Sirius was trying to smirk discreetly at James who looked a little shocked, both of them thinking Lily was unaware of her second double entendre.

So caught up in the own little battle of wills they almost missed the mischievous smile that took over her face

--

When they had reached the clearing James had been aiming for, Sirius immediately took flight, whilst James led Lily over to a small building which, she soon found out, housed, among other things, at least ten brooms.

"This is a shooting star," he said, handing her a broom.

She took it from him, holding it at her side.

"Well what're you waiting for?" he asked. "Get it to hover, Lily," he said, smiling before turning around. "You remember how to do that, don't you?" he asked, rummaging around in the shed.

"Yes," she replied, doing just that as James turned back to face her now with his own broom in hand.

"Great," he smiled brightly.

Seeing her on the broom, he walked closer to her and seemed to take a moment to inspect the way she was sitting. She soon found his hand on her knee positioning it with just enough firmness to make her stomach flutter. His fingers lingered momentarily as he looked her directly in the eyes before stepping back.

Persuaded that she was sitting correctly, he mounted his own broom and the spent the next half an hour flying around in circles, close to the ground.

Getting restless with the slow pace, Lily tried to surreptitiously urge her broom to go a little faster. James, however, was watching her very carefully and so it didn't escape his notice. "You look like a natural, Lily."

"Do I?" she asked excitedly, looking down in the hopes of seeing what he saw.

"Yes, and as fearlessly as you ride… I think you're going to learn quickly, that or kill yourself trying."

With that statement he had effectively dampened her ego, but not killed it.

After one more turn around the clearing, he said "We should stop."

"But why?" She almost whined.

"Trust me, Lily," he replied. "Your arse will thank me tomorrow."

Seeing her pouting a little, he said "Don't worry we'll come back another day."

A/N

I'm getting good at the quick updating, aren't I? – I wonder how long it will last...

By the way - things are about to get a little hot and heavy ;)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and if you have the time or the desire; I have just started a new fic and I would very much appreciate it if you would go and give it a look.

I'm going to try and update both this and Why is it Never Easy this weekend

X


	11. Underwater Adventures?

Finally, after days full of games, books and brooms and nights filled with passionate secret rendezvous, the day of the ball arrived.

And Lily was nervous, very nervous. With everyone except her busy with all the preparations, she found herself with absolutely nothing to do to take her mind off what she was now sure was her impending doom.

Suddenly she heard what was, unmistakably, James walking past her room and into his own, which was conveniently placed opposite to hers.

Being bored and nervous made a person daring and so as she heard his bath water start to run an idea came to her.

She entered James's room as quietly as she could and made her way over to the door which she knew lead to his private bathroom. She opened the door a crack. There in the bath he sat, humming tunelessly, his face covered in soap.

Unfortunately the door creaked and she froze as he sighed before saying "Sirius man, don't you _ever_ knock?! What ever it is can't it wait?! I'm in the bath for Merlin's sake!"

Barely containing a laugh at his mistaking her for Sirius she stood still, hoping he would think she'd left, but then he said "but seeing as you're here, could you just chuck me a towel before you leave, I just got a load of soap in my eye."

Doing as he asked she picked up a towel and made her way over to him.

She stood behind him and passed it to him and then without any further thought wrapped her arms around his wet shoulders

Undoubtedly startled, he grabbed one of the hands around his neck. She let out a giggle and seeing it was her hand that he held he visibly relaxed.

"Oh thank Godric, I thought Sirius had finally gone mad."

"No, sorry to disappoint, love, it's not Sirius."

Seeing her plan was so successful she wanted to make sure he wasn't angry with her by giving him an extremely passionate kiss.

That would have been the end to her innocent prank had James not decided to seek revenge.

As she was quiet caught up in the kiss she seemed to have forgotten her precarious perch on the side of the bath. With the merest flick of his wrist she half toppled into the water. The unexpected drenching caused her to shriek in surprise. However, it didn't take long for the warmth of the water and James nakedness to persuade her to join him.

He quickly pulled her legs over the edge and they both spent a moment wriggling trying to find a comfortable position.

Just as they had both gotten settled, one of the house elves flung back the door with obvious alarm.

"Is everything okay Master James?" he squeaked.

On seeing Lily in drenched and splayed splendour on top of James the elf stopped short.

Lily dropped her head on to James's shoulder and closed her eyes in total mortification, praying, in vain, that she wouldn't be noticed.

"A slight accident," James said mildly, as if absolutely nothing were wrong.

She clenched her eyes shut tighter in defence of what she didn't want to hear.

As soon as she heard the door close Lily smacked James on the shoulder. "James Potter! What must the poor house elf think? I'm totally humiliated! What if he tells your mother?"

"Well, knowing her, she'll think it's the funniest thing she's ever heard."

Seeing Lily cringe he took pity on her and said "Don't worry, Lily, he won't say anything, it's not in a house elf's nature."

Lily frowned, unsure if that was true, but she trusted James and, seeing as she didn't really have a choice, she let it go.

So instead of brooding she grabbed his sponge, lathered it up and began to wash his body, something he certainly didn't seem to mind her doing. From there it wasn't long before he was inside her, their activity causing water slosh then spill onto the floor. This was unfortunate because they soon discovered that their underwater adventure was more difficult to execute than expected.

So he stood up, taking her with him, intending to take her to his bed.

The problem was he had made the decision to move from the cramped bath while he was still inside her. Getting out of the bath whilst normally not particularly hard to do becomes significantly more dangerous when one has ones girlfriends legs wrapped around his waist and one is determined to continue to be inside said girlfriend, when the floor is wet.

And so the inevitable happened.

He landed on his backside.

Lily expected that it must have really hurt, but he didn't seem too concerned with his own health. His main fear was for her, he was worried that the impact and his still being inside her when it happened may have damaged her somehow.

The laughter she failed to stifle though convinced him she felt fine, and so they continued what they had started in the bath, right there on the floor. Their union ended when James came hard and fast, with Lily moaning breathlessly in his ear

They lay in a puddle of bath water with Lily's head wedged in a corner for a little while, before the combination of their nakedness, the water, and the cold floor finally made them decided to move.

And conveniently, just as they had untangled themselves, they began to hear activity begin downstairs and so they went their separate ways in order to get ready for the evening.

--

A/N

I said there would be an update on the weekend and I provided! Whoop!

This is short – but so are all my other chaps – sorry to all those who want them to be longer but in my defence they do seem to come quickly ;)

If you're all good and review – I might be persuaded to update this again on Sunday…

Mwah x


	12. Needless Doubt and a Sticky Situation

She was relaxed and pleasantly exhausted from her previous activities with James. So you would have thought with that release of energy that some of her nervousness had been eased as well, that, however, was not the case.

Even Emily, who had arrived whilst Lily was _bathing_ with James, couldn't make her feel better no matter how much she fussed and complimented.

Lily was certain that she looked terrible. She was unhappy with her hair and even her beautiful green dress, the one she had instantly fallen in love with when she'd seen it, no longer looked as good as it had two hours ago when it was still on the hanger. She was almost positive that she was going to look ridiculous compared to all the elegant women who were sure to be attending tonight.

She gazed unhappily into the mirror and made a half turn. She felt awful, she had so wanted to make James proud when he presented her to his family and their social circle. She was already at a disadvantage, being a muggleborn, she knew that she was going to be scrutinised closely, just like she knew she would not be scrutinise kindly.

She should have shown James the dress. She had had the silly idea that she wanted him to be surprised, but right now she would have done anything to know what he thought before she waked into that room. She didn't know what she would do if he didn't like it, and if he didn't, there would be no time to find another one,

"Do you think," she asked Emily, who was sitting at Lily's dressing table, fiddling with her makeup, "that I should wear a feather or something in my hair?"

Before Emily could decide whether Lily was joking or not, someone knocked at the door and opened it without waiting.

It was James, and with the briefest of looks in Emily's direction he sent her quickly out of the room. Then, from across the room, his eyes rested on Lily.

She returned his look through her lashes then quickly looked away. He may have thought she was being modest and shy, but she wasn't. She just couldn't bear to see disappointment in his eyes. Therefore she missed his obvious appreciation.

"You look so beautiful," he quietly said.

Surprised and disconcerted, she blushed. She quickly tried to think of some kind of response, but nothing sensible came to mind.

Instead she said "Are you alright, you didn't hurt yourself earlier, did you?"

"Actually," he said, "I didn't think to look."

Thinking about how exactly he had hurt himself they both stared at each other a moment, causing her blush to deepen and to spread further down to her chest.

"You are so good-looking," she said after a moment, completely surprising herself and James.

He gave an embarrassed cough and, instead of answering, he thrust forward a box that he'd been hiding behind his back.

She looked at it and almost laughed at the way it had been wrapped, but the desire to laugh faded when she realised that the reason it was so badly presented was that he had wrapped it _himself_ rather than having a house elf do it as he would have normally, instead he had actually put the effort in to trying to wrap it himself. The thought made her impossible happy.

Her fingertips touched the wrapping affectionately, and only after a few moments did she realise that he was patiently waiting for her to unwrap it. She really hated the idea of destroying his touching attempt at wrapping her gift but, nevertheless, her fingers fumbled to pull off the paper. It turned out to be quite difficult given the excessive amounts of spell-o-tape that he had used.

And after a minute of fumbling he was obviously becoming impatient for her to see her gift and so took the box back off of her. He easily opened his own wrapping and with a flourish held it out to her again

She lifted the lid and gasped, an elaborate diamond choker glittered inside. She had never seen anything like it before, not even around Narcissa Malfoy's throat.

Stupidly, she asked "This is for me?"

"Yeah, it's for you," he smiled.

"But why?! It must have been so expensive!"

"You're beautiful and you deserve to have beautiful things," he said sincerely, going a little pink in the cheeks. "Think of it as an early Christmas present" he said when she still hadn't said anything "…Can I put it on you?… You do want to wear it, right?"

She nearly laughed at such a silly question but, instead, she turned around allowing him to fasten it around her neck. It felt pleasantly heavy and cool against her neck and as she spun back around to look in the mirror a flabbergasted smile spread across her face

Touched by the gesture and not the gift she turned and kissed him, not being able to think of enough words to thank him.

"With this around my neck no one is even going to notice me," she finally said lightly.

When his only response was to stare at her intensely she thought that perhaps she hadn't managed to get across how happy and thankful she was for her gift. She was about to open her mouth to try again when he suddenly grasped her beneath the armpits and sat her on top of the dressing table that had been behind her.

"As dangerous as it is to contradict you, you're wrong, Lily," he said roughly.

Shocked at his unexpected move she sat there in a kind a stupor, but all confusion went out the window when he ran his hands up the back of her legs and kissed her neck. Whether it was the stroking of her thigh or the kissing of her neck, her head fell forward onto his chest.

"Lily." he groaned huskily.

All she could do was moan back to his deep, resonating voice.

With this obvious sign of arousal, James couldn't seem to help himself. Before Lily really had a chance to realise what was happening he was insider her and pushing into her quickly and roughly, whilst she sat on top of the dressing table.

Foreplay seemed to be completely irrelevant as he simply kept thrusting into her forcefully and relentlessly.

She found she couldn't do anything, but hang onto his neck and pray that he didn't loose his grip on her or she'd end up the floor again.

With a gasp he convulsed into her. He stood, pressed against her for a moment his chest heaving. Then he said, his hot breath fanning across her skin, "Don't clean it up, when I look at you tonight I don't just want to know I've been inside you, I want to know that you feel me running down your leg."

Then he kissed her hard, withdrew himself from her and left the room.

Dazed, she slid to her feet and stood leaning against the table for a few minutes just staring at the door he'd left through.

Suddenly it opened and Emily stuck her head round. "Okay?" she asked, briefly scanning Lily.

Lily nodded weakly then caught sight of herself in the mirror, she was thoroughly dishevelled. She made a weak attempt to fix her hair, but her arms felt too heavy. So she gave up and just continued to stare into the mirror.

She felt Emily come up behind her and wrap her arms around her. "Don't worry, we'll fix it."

Lily nodded weakly and prudently chose to ignore the laughter she heard in Emily's voice.

--

A/N

Okay I know I said that I might update on Sunday but…2 days late isn't that bad is it?

I haven't had time to reply to your reviews yet but I will get to them - I just figured that you would prefer an update now rather than later

I'm really sorry but I have to inform you all that …I've run out of pre-written chaps and so from now on updates might be a little slower because I need time to write them!

But don't be downhearted and please enjoy!

Oh and review!


	13. Ballroom Politics

With a freshly pressed dress and newly styled hair Lily descended the staircase into the milling crowd of people in the entrance hall. She was surprised, however, when she was not allowed to follow Emily and some of the other Griffyndor girls into the ballroom, but, instead, found herself pulled into the reception line with the rest of the Potter family.

"What are you doing?" she managed to hiss at James through the side of her mouth while still maintaining a polite smile.

"We're greeting the guests," he said as if it was the silliest question she'd ever asked.

"No, you have to greet the guests," she said slowly, trying to make sure he understood, and then quietly, so as not to be overheard, "It's not proper for me to be here James; I'm not part of the family."

As soon as he had finished shaking hands with the guest in front of him he turned completely towards her and said "When I gave you that necklace back when we first started going out, it wasn't just a gift and it wasn't just a flashy display of my wealth, it signified that you're mine and I'm yours. You didn't really think I'd just throw a sentiment like that about, did you?"

Judging from her blank expression she really hadn't understood the significance of his gift, sometimes he forgot that as a muggleborn she would have no knowledge of such customs.

"It's tradition, an old one, in fact not many witches and wizards still bother with it, but it's valid none the less. A gift like the necklace I gave you signifies a strong commitment between two people – Don't worry," he said hastily, seeing the shocked and slightly scared look on her face. "It's not some twisted form of engagement, hell it's not even like a promise ring, but it does mean that we're together and most witches and wizards will know we are attached just by looking at it…" However, upon seeing her still shocked face he sighed. "Look Lily I feel like I have been in love with you for as long as I can remember–"

Lily took a sharp intake of air when he said that, he'd shown her in many ways that he loved her, but she was certain that that was the first time he'd ever actually said it out loud.

Oblivious to Lily's shock, James continued "–So you may not technically be family yet, but you will be, so the sooner you get used to this the better."

He'd said it all with such conviction, and Lily was in so much shock, that she could do little else but accept what he was telling her. And before her brain started functioning enough to form an appropriate response, she was already being introduced to her first guest.

She soon found that it was a dreadfully boring task, and often found her eyes wandering, a few minutes ago they had settled on Alexandra and Lily had been mortified to see her necklace far exceeded Alex's.

This time, however, Lily was well aware of the reason for the discrepancy. She didn't need to be told that James had been making a statement. It was obvious. He was quite blatantly announcing to anyone who met her that she was important to him and that _they_ had better treat her accordingly. Muggleborn or not.

Lily didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted but eventually settled on indifference. Unlike her, James had been born and raised here, in this world, and he knew what he was doing so Lily wouldn't question him.

She assumed the other gift he left her with, the one that was now running down her leg must have been to remind _her_, that she was important to him.

After another ten minutes of boredom Lily soon found great amusement in gauging the time between being introduced to a woman and the time before that woman's gaze dropped to the choker around her neck.

James really did have an uncanny knack for judging these sorts of things.

Never having really had much interest in jewels and flashy jewellery herself she found it fascinating, she had soon noticed that some women were more subtle than others when appraising it.

But the sight apparently struck one poor girl senseless, and with people starting to wonder why the reception line was at a standstill Lily wanted to hurry the girl along and so leant forward allowing her a closer look.

With this action she noticed a frown cross James face, worried she had done something inappropriate she hurriedly righted herself effectively snapping the girl out of her trance and finally urging her to move forward. As she moved on though James's face smoothed and it occurred to Lily that _she_ hadn't done anything wrong, it was that he wanted his family acquaintances to make just as good an impression on her as she did on them.

Warmed by this thought a smile spread across her face, that was until she looked further down the family line and noticed Aunt Mary staring at her disgustedly.

--

Until then the most extravagant event Lily had been to was a ball at Hogwarts. At the time she had thought nothing could surpass it, it had been beautiful and elegant, a real night to remember, but the Potter manner, which on a normal day was unbelievably impressive, was beyond imagination when ready for a ball. It exceeded the one at Hogwarts by miles.

The orchestra struck up announcing the first dance and James took Lily's hand and led her to the dance floor. She suddenly found many eyes on her at once and Lily couldn't help but be unnerved by the attention but as James wrapped his arm securely around her and grasped her hand she suddenly forgot to be nervous. And even though Lily was not too keen on having to demonstrate her dancing skills in front of so many people James gracefully led her around the floor and the first dance was over before Lily had even really realised what had happened.

--

Because the crowd was so big it, unfortunately, meant that other than dancing the couple found it hard to be any more affectionate with each other than the occasional holding of hands but the mere fact that when they managed to he would run his thumb lovingly over the back of her knuckles… well the chance alone was enough to make Lily try and stay nearby.

Nevertheless, the time came when they got swept away and separated from each other

Lily danced with Remus once and participated in two rowdy gallops across the floor with Sirius.

Sirius, it seemed, would willingly dance with anyone who wanted to, making sure not to snub any girl, even the ones others seemed to pass over. It was funny he didn't chose his partner by rank or money and after dancing with him again Lily took the chance to remark on it.

"You know Sirius, for someone of your family standing you would think that you would choose your partners based on fortune, looks or personality rather than who needs one most. You could have any girl in the room and you'd make such a wonderful boyfriend."

Lily wasn't worried about addressing this issue. Sirius was always very frank with her and so she knew he took no offence at her intrusion. He merely allowed a smile, a shake of the head and a kiss to her cheek, before taking her hand once again.

Lily let the issue drop with a smile and danced with Sirius again but when it was over she found his enthusiastic dancing had left her breathless. So she excused herself to catch her breath and cool down. She found a secluded corner trying to avoid being badgered into dancing again until she was ready. Once settle and hidden away she took a moment to admire her boyfriend from afar as he danced with Emily.

She noticed from this vantage point that many female eyes followed James as he moved. And they didn't seem to be watching him respectfully; a lot of them looked positively hungry when they looked at him.

Lily found she couldn't be angry with them though, mainly because she couldn't blame them, she too found she couldn't take her eyes off of him, _good job he was hers_, she thought smugly _or I may have had to steal him._

The whispering of someone who obviously wanted to be heard drifted to Lily's ears breaking her out of her admiration.

A older horsy looking girl was talking to her fat squat friend. "It's so good to see Potter again."

Her interest piqued further at the mention of James, Lily inspected them more fully and found she didn't know either of them, but she had the uncanny feeling that they knew who she was and exactly where she was standing.

"Yes, everyone misses him when he's gone and the Quidditch matches are never quite as interesting or _attractive_ without him. He's so strong and he has such impressive _stamina_."

They both continued to chatter incessantly. "Yes, he does have quite an impressive hold on his _broom_, he seems to know exactly how to _handle_ it!"

Tickled by their own whit they laughed obnoxiously and Lily felt her face burn with anger.

Lily knew that she shouldn't lower herself in to confronting them, but she felt rage overtake. So she didn't walk away like she knew she should have instead she stepped directly in front of the two ugly cows, both of them suddenly paling considerable and looking decidedly more alert and anxious when they saw her.

Lily got a great deal of satisfaction from their reactions and knew she had made the right choice by facing them. They had obviously thought that she was some shy muggleborn, who couldn't and wouldn't stand up for herself.

As she looked slowly from the first to the other she immediately determined they both had more hair than sense.

And Lily, with a massive amount of pleasure said, in a quiet deliberate voice, "I couldn't help but overhear your kind words about James, and I must say I have to agree." She sighed "I'm very lucky to have such a magnificent lover for a boyfriend aren't I?" she finished.

She then smiled brilliantly and walked away.

The women's faces took on a look of confusion and then incredulity and even though Lily did not stick around long enough to see it she took great pleasure in imagining it.

Despite the satisfaction now brimming within her she found that as she walked away she couldn't help but wonder _what the hell was going on, how the hell could two ugly chits like them know any thing about James _talents_?…_

And suddenly as her eyes scanned the room Lily wondered who exactly knew enough to spread the word…

But the thought had barely surface before the mean haggard face of aunt Mary appeared directly in her path.

_Great, just great. _

--

A/N

Woohooo - both stories updated in one day - impressive eh?

Okay – I know its been about two weeks but I have been working on Why is it Never easy – it kind of took over – but its okay because I think its finished now so back to Object!

Some people asked if Lily was enjoying her sexual education – I'm sorry if I haven't been making it clear – that's been an oversight on my part – but rest assure she enjoys it very much.

Ps. its my birthday this week so send me a present and review!


	14. Bad Manners

Lily was almost sent reeling back a step when she found herself so abruptly under the glare of Aunt Mary, but forced herself to appear unaffected—she'd be damned before she gave any sign of weakness in front of that woman.

She _was_ an imposing figure, though, dressed in black and with an immense diamond chocker wound so tightly around her neck, Lily thought it was a wonder she could still breathe.

Her face bore an expression of such distaste that Lily suddenly found she had the insane urge to laugh. Fortunately, however, her better judgment prevailed that time and she quickly squashed the compulsion. She was pretty sure that provoking her might lead Mary to violence and the last thing Lily wanted to do was give people even more of a reason to gossip about her and how she wasn't good enough for James without adding fighting with important family members, in _public_, to the list.

But it seemed it was out of her hands, she should have known it was a vain hope, because Lily suddenly became incredibly aware that the unexpected meeting between herself and Mary had quickly caught the interest of the surrounding guests.

Noticing the expectant looks on some peoples faces, Lily deduced that Mary had been quite vocal about her dislike of such an "unworthy" match for her nephew.

Lily _knew_ the evil old bat didn't like her.

She also knew that if she had only been a passing fancy then, perhaps, Mary would have been able to suffer the relationship between Lily and James cordially. But as Lily had earlier been informed, James's original gift to her and the necklace that currently hung around her neck were both strong evidence that Lily wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It proved that James was serious about her and it seemed that Mary could no longer suffer the shame of the match quietly.

Lily overcame her shock at the first display of open hostility with a polite nod. Aunt Mary in return, eyed the jewellery round her neck, brought her eyes back up to Lily's, then snorted in obvious disgust and turned her back.

Lily was not at all surprised at that show of aggression; she had been expecting such a display from the moment she had met the old battle axe and seen the distasteful way she in which she had looked at her. It was a relief to have it over and done with instead of having to wait in suspense for the first attack and quite frankly she was relieved it had not been worse.

Nothing else but a snubbing would have come from the passing incident had Aunt Mary not, in her rude haste, turned around and walked directly into James's path.

Lily could see James's face over Mary's shoulder and she was incredibly relieved to know that he was not directing such a look at her.

He was so _very_ un-amused that it seemed to strike Aunt Mary both silent and motionless.

If it were not for the loud roaring in her own ears Lily would have noticed that, suddenly, everyone around them had stopped talking and that all attention was now focused on James and his aunt.

It was James who spoke first, breaking the stalemate. His voice was quite unremarkable.

"Aunt Mary, I see you didn't recognise my girlfriend, Lily Evans, just there behind you. You've only just met so I _suppose_ that's a little understandable, but perhaps you should take a second look so such a mistake will not happen again in the future." As he spoke he gestured gracefully in Lily's direction.

Mary stood frozen staring at her nephew, James stared back unrelentingly, a silent battle of wills taking place. Mary had obviously seen something in his gaze and eventually came out of her stupor and turned around, and when she did Lily saw, with the slightest twinge of glee, that her face was not just grim, it had blanched.

"Lily, I know you have only just met but _you_ have not forgotten my aunt already, have you?" James asked with an encouraging smile at Lily and a poignant look thrown at Mary.

Stubbornly ignoring the avid crowd surrounding her Lily replied, whilst looking directly at the women in question, "Of course not, how has your evening been so far Aunt Mary." She even gave a small curtsy.

By then the thunder in her ears had quieted but Lily realised, with a sickening feeling in her stomach, that the silence around them was a hundred times louder and more intimidating than any noise her own mind could make.

Everyone, it seemed, was waiting with bated breath for Mary's response. And after an uncomfortably long moment of strained study she glanced again at James's cool expression.

"Yes, of course Miss Evans," she finally said, looking at her nephew whilst addressing Lily. "I hope you are having a good evening also."

The moment the words left her lips James took Lily's elbow and moved them away from his aunt. As soon as they were a safe distance away conversation in the room resumed.

Lily could feel the heat of James's aunt's stare on her as they moved away and, instinctively, she drew back her shoulders and straightened her spine. Her stomach may have been roiling and her knees may have felt a little weak, but she'd be damned before letting Mary see she had affected her.

The only problem with appearing strong though was that Lily really did feel weak, but it was definitely not because of Mary, it was James. He had willed his aunt to be civil and she had complied which was quite frankly, a miracle. If what Lily had witness so far from the old woman was anything to go by, she was a force to be reckoned with both inside the family and out.

And seeing _James_ handle his aunt like that, well, quite frankly, it made her feel jumpy and out of sorts. She'd always known he had power and influence outside his family, but his dominance _within_ the family took her totally by surprise.

Initially, she had thought that James's defence of her was because of his devotion to her, but after only a moment of further thought on the confrontation she realised that however devoted she knew James was to her, the previous drama did not happen purely because of her, it was for the benefit of society at large. James Potter was the next male heir to the Potter family and he meant to prove that it was he and not his aunt who held the reins of power.

Once a safe distance away, James, who could see Lily was still a bit disconcerted and looking a little pale, left to get her a drink.

Abandoned, shaken and aggrieved in the crowd of partying guests, she stood on one foot and then the other trying not to look too pissed off.

But as soon she had lost sight of James in thick crowd of guests and the moment she was truly alone a lady she had been introduced to earlier came steaming towards her, waving wildly. "Hello, Lily, hello."

And before Lily had a chance to escape the lady and her group had engulfed her, the party unfortunately including her two daughters.

Lily looked at the group hesitantly and found, not withstanding the fact that one of the daughters was married, they were absolutely identical, right down to their dresses. The indistinguishable sisters had a tight grip on the arms of an elderly gentlemen who Lily had first assumed was their father, but when he was introduced it became clear that he was most definitely _not_.

He was however and earl and from a very prominent pureblooded family line. So despite the fact he was old and fat half blind and almost deaf, he'd still had caught the twin's attention. The ladies obviously thought two heads were better than one in obtaining a match for the unmarried sister.

After a polite introduction Lily look at proper look at one sister and then the other, both of whom promptly fell about giggling.

Lily had no clue what the two _ladies_ found so funny about a mere introduction, and so tried to take a metal inventory of anything that may be wrong with her appearance. Everything seemed to be in order so she prepared to give an insincere apology and excuse herself from their foul company. All the while her annoyance at James for deserting her rising exponentially, especially when, after a moment, Lily realised she was not the reason for the giggling, the ground for their amusement was obviously James.

Seconds later she saw him heading in her direction. He carried two cups high above the jostling crowd. Raising her hand, she caught his eye and as his hands were full all he could do was raise his eyebrows to indicate he saw her.

Lily quickly noticed that the imminent arrival of James to the group had caused the sisters to abandon the poor sickly earl and instead had taken to nudging each other excitedly; one even commenced a high pitched squeal.

In the near distance James froze, his eyes narrowed and even halfway across the room Lily could see his mouth had tightened into a grimace and his nostrils had flared. Obviously he had seen something distasteful. So palpable was his expression that Lily made a quick check over he shoulder to ensure that Aunt Mary wasn't about to accost her again.

Not finding anything she turned back around to where James had been, only to discover he had disappeared completely.

The flirtatious young women were twisting and turning on their tiptoes obviously just as curious as she was about her boyfriend's sudden disappearance.

Lily however caught sight of the crown of his head, unmistakable as it was, as it moved into the middle of the crowd. And so excusing herself Lily went to overtake him, intending to remark on the unusual matching dresses and bad manners of the people she'd just met, but by the time she reached him he was deep in conversation with Remus and Sirius, still holding the drinks cups in his hands. His conversation outlasted Lily's interest and soon her previous company was forgotten.

On the way up to her room much later that night, James and Lily were both too tired to chatter, but Lily's brain still, somehow, found the energy worry about the weird interactions that had taken place and the knowledge that Aunt Mary definitely wasn't the sort to take such a public chastising quietly. And although James didn't seem worried in the slightest about the encounter with his aunt, Lily knew that she was a formidable adversary who was not to be taken lightly.

She just really hoped that there would be no heinous repercussions.

--

A/N

No your eyes do not deceive you there is an update!

I'm so sorry - I am finding this story so difficult to write. I have been trying but the chaps just don't seem to be coming together properly – it just doesn't seem to flow that easily for me, maybe because its not _all_ my own work.

Anyway I know its been two week - I'm going to try to update quicker this time

Got to send a special thanks to cosmopolitan who helped me re-write the end of the chap when it just wasn't working.

Thank you so much for reading!


	15. Suspicious Talents

Unsurprisingly, it was quite late when most of the guests had left, finally allowing Lily and James to go up to bed.

They didn't even make a pretence of going to the own separate rooms, James's parents were too tired themselves to notice and Sirius was indisposed himself, so with no fear of being seen, James simply followed Lily into her room.

As soon as the door had closed with a snap, the couple fell back onto the bed in fatigue both still fully dressed.

Lily stared at the ceiling and listened as James told her how well the evening had gone and how many people had commented on how beautiful and kind she seemed to be.

"Yes, love, that's very flattering, but, in all fairness, I doubt anyone would turn around and tell you to your face that your girlfriend was horrible and ugly," she reminded him with an indulgent smile.

"Of course not," he replied cheerily. "_But_ they didn't really need to say anything at all if that was the way they felt, plus nobody can lie that well." He then turned his head to look at her and grinned "and I, for one, completely agree with them."

"I should hope so," she smiled back, rolling her eyes. "I think there would be a serious problem if _you_ thought I was horrible."

His face then turned serious. "You were charming and beautiful tonight, Lily. I wouldn't have cared if you were neither, but you can't imagine how happy I am that were both."

He leaned over the small space between them then and kissed her languidly before heaving a sigh and dragging himself off the bed, standing to get changed for bed. He merely dropped his clothes where he stood before climbing back in and underneath the bed clothes, Lily, who had watched quietly for a while, followed suit.

Once they were both settled there had been an initial spoon and a bit of a grope, but when his lack of enthusiasm was announced by soft snore, Lily found she didn't have the heart to wake him and, instead, put her arms around him and snuggled against his chest.

During the silence it occurred to her then that that was the first time, since they had gotten together, that they had slept in the same bed and not had sex. Of course they had already had sex twice that evening before the ball so she realised it was unreasonably greedy of her to want him again, especially since it was just to make her feel better.

For as much as she didn't like to admit it she _was_ unsettled by the two gossiping hags and the rude giggling twins. Both groups had given her the impression that they had had first hand knowledge of James _talents_ and even though Lily couldn't imagine James cavorting with such vulgar pieces of work she couldn't help but wonder.

She knew that given him being a _little_ older and _very_ good looking it was possible, even probable, he had been with other women. Yet it was easier for her to ignore such an idea at Hogwarts because she knew most of the gossip and goings on there and could feel fairly sure that he hadn't _been_ with half the school populous but there, at his home and social circle, it was an entirely different matter. She didn't know those people and she had no idea of their history with the Potter family.

He was eligible young man here, and suddenly every female face under thirty that she had greeted that night visited her. Suddenly, they weren't just amiable guests they were all former lovers.

"_He has an __impressive hold on his __broom_!_"_

That was what the woman had said; _yes_, Lily thought, _he_ does_ have an impressive handle of it_.

Conveniently, just as Lily started to panic, James chose that moment to draw her closer and say, quite clearly, "I love you, Lily"

Even in his sleep he knew what she needed from him and, at that particular moment, no amount of sex could have helped her fall into so peaceful of a sleep.

--

In their tiredness the couple had forgotten to close the curtains before falling asleep the night before and so the morning sun woke James much earlier than he would have liked.

But as he was a man basking in the glow of a magnificently successful evening he suffered the abuse of nature without much resentment. Especially as that intrusion was mitigated by a single slash of sunlight that cast a milky glow on his girlfriend's bare back.

He propped himself up on one elbow and just gazed at her for a while.

Hours spent asleep had not undone James's self-satisfaction with the success of the ball or Lily's part in that success. Both had been triumphs. It was clear that most of the guest had fallen under Lily's spell. He disregarded the event with Aunt Mary completely; he had never really cared much for her or her ideals, she was the only one in the family who even cared a little about blood, birth and rank, and the only reason his family bore her opinions was out of familial obligation.

And the others who dared to fault him for his choice of girlfriend had been silenced unequivocally.

He felt happiness bubble up in him again, threatening to overwhelm him.

He wanted to share his happiness.

Drawing his fingers lightly down her spine, he tried to tempt Lily awake.

She responded to that intrusion by James, by pulling the covers over her shoulders.

Undaunted, he loosened the sheet and trailed his hand down her back again.

She turned over blinking in the bright morning light and noticing him looking down at her she smiled sleepily.

At the sight of her, so completely and beautifully naked, his morning pride flowered into outright arousal and a thought occurred to him. He realised that he had seen her, of course, during many of their bedroom activities, but he had never really inspected her.

He wasn't curious as to the actual configuration, he had on a few past occasions inspected a woman's most private parts, but he wanted to memorise _Lily_. When he closed his eyes he wanted to be about to bring every pore of her skin to mind, let her scent invade his nostrils, he wanted to know her so well he would never be able to forget.

So, ever so slowly, as not to worry her, he crawled down her body leaving delicate kisses and the odd nipping bite as he went. She allowed his investigation a bit self-consciously and when he reached his goal he stroked her thighs tenderly with the backs of his fingers encouraging her to relax and eventually she lay back and trusted him to do as he pleased.

That presented him with a problem; although he had kissed that part of her many times it had only been fleeting and now he wanted, not only to fill his nostrils with her scent, but he wanted to saturate his mouth with her taste, knowing that that would probably bring her to an orgasm of the type she hadn't experienced yet.

In the afterglow of such as successful party he believed it was the time to try. He placed his hand under her buttocks and raised her up a little to his waiting mouth.

She may have been a bit startled but the breathless gasp that escaped her showed him she didn't mind what he was doing to her.

Quickly she started to moan and James may have relished in the sound if he could have heard it, as it was she had entwined her fingers into his hair so fiercely he could not.

Nevertheless, when the arching of her back announced to him that she was about to come, he quickly decided that he did not want her to experience it alone. So he sat up and entered her quickly, and completed their union with such vigour's it was a wonder the bed did not crash right through the wall.

Quiet exhausted by passion they lay in a sweating heap, Lily still clutching his hair James didn't mind though because her tenacious hold was proof that that success exceeded that of the ball by some measure

James's satisfaction was exquisite.

That was until a few minutes later, when Lily breathlessly asked "Where did you learn to do _that _so well?"

--

A/N

I'm sorry I know I haven't replied to your reviews but it's been so long since there's been an update that I decided to just post straight away.

I hope there was enough L/J action in this chap to make up for the lack of contact in the last!

p.s. I'm writing a new story and should be posting it soon – when I come's out I would love it if you would give it a try!


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